


Rebuilding a Family

by theravinggamer



Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asta has a family who misses him, Dark, Found Family, Reunited Family, Spoilers for Black Clover past chapter 214, lots of feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2020-07-29 17:29:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20086021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theravinggamer/pseuds/theravinggamer
Summary: Asta was orphaned at Hage Village's orphanage. This much is set in stone, but as no one knows the circumstances of how he got there, what if he was taken from a family? A family that was ready to adore him and raise him right. A family, not from Clover, not from Diamond, but from Spade.And now they have a chance to be together again, and rebuild a broken family.





	1. A cold morning

How many times had this nightmare plagued her? The same crashing sound, the pain, and the panicked cries of her parents as a sleeping infant was taken away. A sliver of sunlight through the massive window of her room woke the woman up, she let out a very quiet yawn and stepped out of her bed. A seemingly never-worn military uniform, that’s what she would always wear. Various medals adorning it as she needed something to signify her status.

The dark blue uniform went on, gold stripes on the shoulders with red trimming. With an almost mechanical precision, she tied up her long blonde hair into a ponytail, and stepped outside.

“Good morning, general,” a servant said, a pot of hot coffee and a plate with two scones waiting for the woman. She nodded, her face full of indifference and a lack of emotion as she took both a drink and a scone and began her morning routine. 

“My appointments?” She requested after finishing the scone and starting on her coffee. The servant grabbed a sheet of paper and starting to read it off.

“After breakfast, you have a morning address of your battalion,” she started, the general nodding and finishing her second scone, “Then a meeting with the king before your mandatory half day off for this quarter.”

“I see. You are dismissed,” she said calmly, grabbing one last cup of coffee before the servant bowed and left. Addressing her battalion was nothing new, simply go on about glory for the king and the kingdom, and point out the problem soldiers. This one took less time, their training had been going well, and everything was in order. Admittedly, she wanted to hurry through her work for her brief time off.

“For the glory of the Spade Kingdom!” she shouted, putting her right hand on her left shoulder, their countries salute. Her battalion mimicking her before walking off as she had trained them. She let out another sigh as she rushed off to her meeting. While she would be early, keeping her ruler waiting was never a good idea. 

“General Light,” an almost jovial voice said as the doors were opened to the meeting hall. The king and one of her fellow generals greeting her. “Early as usual, I see?”

“I am simply wanting to ensure his highness does not wait for this meeting.” She said bluntly, the other general’s smile going away and being replaced with an annoyed grimace. “Now, I shall wait and we shall begin when everyone has arrived.”

“Agreed,” the other general said, taking his place at the large meeting table. Every general eventually arrived, with more than enough time to spare and sitting, facing the king.

“Now then,” the old man said, the king stroking his beard thoughtfully. “As our scouts have reported, there was an incident in the Clover Kingdom a week ago.” the generals nodding in response. Even with the distance and fog separating the two hostile kingdoms, the pillars of light had been visible from a great distance.

“As with all the reports from each of your battalions, the kingdoms defences are recovering from whatever went on.” the king continued, stopping to take a drink of water for a moment. “As such, now would be an ideal time to strike with their defences scattered and fractured.”

The generals all shared a moment of agreement, even starting to discuss strategies before the blonde woman stood up. 

“Yes, General Light?” another of the generals said, the room now focused on the youngest member. “Do you have an objection?”

“Not fully,” she said, the woman keeping her face as emotionless as possible. “I simply have a suggestion.”

“And that is?” the king said, a few other generals catching a bit of amusement in his tone. 

“A possibility to destroy their entire chain of command,” she said, the generals now looking at her with rapt attention. “Sending in a general during the chaos and using them to deal with their military command structure while they’re recovering would allow for an almost riskless invasion of our enemies.” 

Even the members of the Spade Kingdom’s command structure who disliked their youngest general had to admit the possibility of this plan working would allow for a wonderful opportunity. 

For General Light, she had to be careful. She had been waiting for a chance to suggest this plan, but needed to hope that everything would fall into place. Had she made enough enemies in the command chain with her quick rise to power? Would they be willing to use her absence to create a vacuum and then squabble over who gets command of who?

“That plan… While it would take longer, it would be more effective.” the king said, some generals murmuring in agreement. “Then, General Light, who would you suggest to carry out this proposed plan of yours?”

“It must be someone agreed upon by everyone in this room,” she said bluntly, a few members who were not fond of her slowly getting grins. “Naturally, I will volunteer myself, but the decision is up to you.” 

The discussion started, it wasn’t unknown to anyone in this room that she was not popular among certain groups of the command or leadership of the country. She could count on her enemies to try to get rid of her, easily. It was her few allies that were causing the problem in her mind.

First, the King himself. Overjoyed at how young the next generation of generals was, he happily supported her military power. If he didn’t agree to this, then her hope would be crushed. Along with him were older generals, ones who had grown up on the stories of the bearer of the crystal grimoire. They had built her up for the country as a legendary hero in the making, she couldn’t leave the command center or palace without propaganda about her being the next legend of Spade.

“I for one agree with sending General Light,” one of the other generals started to say, the discussion now coming to an end. More of the room agreed with that sentiment, getting the general to almost crack a smile.

“I am against it,” The king said, the room sighing internally. “She is a national treasure with her skill and power! Sending her off for who knows how long would affect the morale of the kingdom!”

“With all due respect, your Majesty.” she said, the room now focused on the two of them. “The glory that we could bring to Spade with my plan would overshadow any time spent away from our glorious homeland.”

“The legends and stories clearly state that you will bring glory to us!” the King almost yelled, just managing to keep the sudden emotions from bursting out. “You leaving on such a mission could not bring as much glory as staying here!”

“Your Majesty,” she said calmly, the king looking at her with such a serious expression it felt like he would have a heart attack. “I would cause such a change in our kingdom that everyone in this room would go down in history for the right decision.”

That did it, the king’s demeanor changed back to calm and happier. The idea of being the king who would go down in history for this decision was clearly tantalizing.

“...Then are we all in agreement?” he said after a moment, every person in the room standing and saluting their king.

“Yes, your majesty!” they all said, the king smiling.

“Then, General Rebecca Light, I hereby grant you permission to enact your plan.” the King said, Rebecca giving a rare smile before saluting once more.

“I will leave tonight,” she said, the room murmuring in agreement. “I shall use the rest of today to prepare.” With that, the meeting was adjourned, Rebecca calmly walking to her quarters and making sure to lock the door behind her. She only needed one thing from her quarters, drawing the blinds shut, she walked over to her bed. Shecarefully lifted the mattress and removed a seemingly sturdy panel to reveal a small treasure chest, roughly the size of her hand.

‘Open,’ she thought, letting her mana work its way into the box, a minute passed until the lock audibly clicked and opened. Inside was a small locket, roughly one a child would’ve worn, and a journal. Despite the age, both items were immaculate, she gently picked them both up, and made room in one of her uniform’s pockets.

‘That is everything I need from here,’ she thought to herself as she carefully rearranged her bed to make it look normal. She grabbed some things that were, to her, not required for her mission. A communication device to make an emergency report if something went wrong, a travel version of her military outfit, and a second blank journal to ‘Keep track of information,’ and a medal, her first to be precise. Sentimentality and all that rot.

She left, heading towards a supply area to grab some necessities. A kettle for boiling water, flint and steel for making a non-magical fire, a sleeping roll, a change of standard civilian clothes, and a few water canteens to make it look like she would be just a regular traveller. The sun was now just past its peak, Rebecca smiling to herself as she grabbed a broom and flew off towards her last stop.

The house was so much smaller every time she visited, but it was the safest place in the kingdom to her. A light knock was all it took before slow footsteps approached the door and opened it. A man, who to someone who didn’t know him would think he was easily in his sixties, opened the door and smiled.

“Well, General,” he said, Rebecca giving a slightly content sigh in response. “Is this for business or personal matters?” 

“Father, you know it’s always personal.” she laughed, the man stepping aside and letting her enter the small house. “Fresh bread?” she said, taking a deep breath and revelling in the scent of her childhood home.

“Of course,” he said, the man walking towards the kitchen with his daughter. His clothes seemed to help the perception he was older than he appeared. “I had a feeling it was your day off and wanted to prepare something for my oldest child.”

She paused, her father giving her a solemn look. “He’s still alive, I can feel it.” he said, the warmth of the house quickly fading. “And so is… well…”

“I agree, Father,” Rebecca responded after a moment, just to catch her breath. “Both mother and Asta are alive, and now I can go and search for them.”

Her father looked like he grew younger by about twenty years at that sentence alone. His eyes wide as he looked at Rebecca with a mixture of hope and heartbreak. “You… managed to find a way to leave?”

“Yes,” she said, helping her father to the kitchen and sitting down with him at the table. “With that mysterious light phenomenon from a week ago, I am going to be deployed on espionage to the Clover Kingdom. If he’s there, I will find Asta, and then I will find Mother.”

“Then you’ll need more than just my bread to get you through this,” he laughed, trying to fight back tears. “Stay for dinner, if you can that is.”

“That was the plan,” Rebecca said, her father smiling and immediately handing her a fresh loaf of bread and a knife. The general slowly cut into the loaf, savouring the sweet taste of fresh bread. “I will leave sometime in the dead of night, the command chain will say I have come down with a sickness to keep my lack of presence here to a reasonable level.”

“Good,” her father responded, grabbing a slab of meat from a tiny storage container and setting himself to work, using his water magic to precisely dice the meat before setting it in a cast iron frying pan and grabbing various seasonings. Then came the vegetables, the same process before adding them to the now sizzling mix of meat and seasonings. “First, a hearty meal to send you off, then making some preserves.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Rebecca said happily, taking another slice of bread and once again savouring the loaf. The smell bringing her back to years long past, where this tiny house would’ve had two other people happily waiting for a delicious meal. A deep breath before she stood up and walked towards the interior of the house. 

“Father... “ she started, the man still cooking. 

“Yes, you can go up to his old room,” he said, giving his daughter a smile. “Take anything you feel would be important to you from there.”

“Thank you,” she said, a lump forming in her throat as she climbed the single set of stairs in the house and approached the room at the end of the hall. A small wood carving on the door, made the lump grow. 

“Аста Цинния Лайт,” is what it said, the general slowly opening the door and seeing the room in an immaculate state. Toys were cleaned, the small pairs of baby shoes were aligned at the base of a drawer. There was a family picture on a small table next to a crib that had been occupied for far too short a time.

She sighed, and took a moment to stand in the room. The dream coming back every time she stepped foot in this room. A sudden storm, a broken window, and a searing pain in her face. The day her family started to fall apart was permanently burned into her mind, and had become an obsession. She shook her head, and reached for something next to the photo. A small handmade plaque with a shining star carved into it and the family creed underneath it.

“Свет сохраняется даже в самые темные ночи” it read, roughly translating to “Light persists in even the darkest of nights.” It had become a comfort to Rebecca, to repeat it in the darker moments of her life to keep herself on the path she wanted. She paused, and carefully put the plaque inside her coat next to the journal.

“This is his,” she muttered, double checking that it was secure. “He deserves to have part of his family with him.” The smell of her father’s cooking was now completely engulfing the small house, Rebecca sighing and stepping out of the old room. Down the stairs she went, the smell getting stronger with each step as she approached the kitchen.

“Looks like your nose for my cooking is just as strong as ever,” her father teased, the General letting out a slight chuckle and sitting down at her share of the dinner.

“It’s far better than anything they prepare at the castle,” she said, waiting for the man to dish himself out before eating. “And practically the food of gods compared to rations.”

“Really?” the man said, fighting back a fit of laughter. “All those chefs and they can’t beat my meat dish?” Rebcca laughed with him and almost missed that he had prepared more than enough food for the two of them.

“There’s no love in their cooking,” she said, a bowl of meat in gravy with seared vegetables being put in front of her. 

“No, no I would think not.” her father said, trying and failing to hide a melancholic hint to his words. He frowned, and sighed. “I made too much again.”

“More for me to take then,” Rebecca continued, her father giving her a smile before sitting down and starting to eat. It was a quiet meal, the surefire sign of something being delicious. They sat in silence afterwards, both parent and child contemplating the next move. 

“You’re sure he’s in Clover?” the parent said, Rebecca catching a glint of something in his eyes. The general nodded, getting a tired smile in response. 

“I am,” she said, pulling out her old notebook and flipping to a page near the beginning. “With intelligence that was gathered I can say for certain that he’s there.”

“I hope for both our sakes he is,” the man said, taking a deep breath. “And… what, exactly, is you plan when you find him?”  
It was Rebecca’s turn to take a breath, and then another. “I… Want to be with him like we were all supposed too.” she said, looking down at the empty dish in front of her. “I want to find him, find mother and bring you to us as well. I want us all to be together, like it was supposed to be.”

It happened in a flash, her father stood up and with a speed Rebecca wasn’t used too, lifted her out of her seat and gave her an incredibly strong hug. It took her a moment to react, before hugging back.

“If anyone can do it, it’s you, my daughter.” the man said, letting her go. The rest of that afternoon was quiet, Rebecca taking extra supplies such as cookware and using her magic to freeze the leftover food as part of her rations. Her father made sure to include a blanket, a soft quilt that was perfect for a cold night.

She was ready, leaving with one last hug before opening the door and stepping out. ‘I’m coming Asta,’ she thought, setting out towards the massive treeline separating the kingdoms. This was her goal for the last fifteen years of her life, and damned be anyone who would try to stop her.


	2. To Clover, with hope.

She left under the cover of night, moving from the kingdom of cold and fog, towards the much more temperate region of the Clover Kingdom. The large forest blanket gave her more than enough cover, combined with her disguise even if she did run into any knights she could more than likely talk her way out of any conflict. 

However that didn’t happen, even when using a broom to cover a majority of the distance there were seemingly no border patrols. Almost not a soul in sight for the general to worry about.

“Strange…” she murmured, dismounting from her broom as the sight of the demon’s bones signaled how close she was getting to the actual border. “I know something happened. But what could cause them to remove any border security?”

Idle thoughts are a dangerous thing, especially for someone who has survived off of hope that everything would go according to a plan. These dangerous thoughts are often the cause for mistakes, the cause for panic, or the cause of stress. For rebecca, the thought that crossed her mind sent a chill through her body.

‘What could’ve happened to my brother?’ was such a terrifying thought on so many levels for the general that she stopped dead in her tracks. She paused, the dark night sky and cover from trees giving her more than enough time to calm herself.

‘No, no he has to be alive.` she thought, forcing the thought away. ‘We may not have raised him, but he’s certain to be strong enough to survive anything.’ She paused, and took the time to carefully breathe and calm down.

‘It’s a passing thought, he’s definitely all right.’ she thought, making her way towards the imposing demon skeleton on foot. She still moved carefully, not wanting to make any mistakes that could compromise her own goal. 

Another, similar, thought popped into her head, and she once again shook it away. She didn’t have time to think about that sort of thing, not when the end of the neutral territory between the kingdoms was in sight. 

“There should be a town not too far from here,” she murmured, starting to feel the side effects of staying awake for far too long. She pushed on, her training and stamina letting her push through it and before she realized it, she had entered Hage village.

Something about the rundown village managed to fuel a bit of nostalgia in the woman. Despite it being just as quiet as she expected at this time of night, it felt familiar. She shook that thought away for now, and focused on a cacophony of noise from one building.

“I’m tellin’ you guys!” one man said, a red tint on his cheeks from alcohol. “We’re gonna be famous cause of those two!”

“And who was it sayin’ last week they’d leave us if we were in trouble!?” someone else laughed, getting punched in the shoulder by their friend.

“Hey can you blame me?” the other man laughed, Rebecca quietly walking past them and moving towards the bartender. “One of them doesn’t even have magic!”

That got the general’s attention. No magic meant if they were skilled enough they could be anywhere in hiding and she’d be none the wiser. She sat close enough to the group to keep listening in.

“Can’t blame ya there!” one of the other people said, laughing and taking a swig from their mug. “Seems like yesterday that little shrimp was screamin’ his head off about marryin’ that nun!”

“Nah, for you it’s yesterday that you got yer ass beat by him when he was six years old!” the first man said, getting laughs out of the group. “I swear, when ya stumbled in with a bloody lip from little Asta! How long did we not let you forget ‘bout it?”

That got Rebecca to stand up, getting the group to stare at the sudden noise from her chair protesting against the sudden movement. She slowly turned towards the group, all three men staring at her in confusion.  
“Apologies,” she said calmly, trying to hide both her excitement and her accent. “Can you… repeat that name?”

“Ya’ mean Asta?” one of them said, Rebecca giving them all a strange, disturbingly happy smile.. 

“Yes, I do.” she said, moving over to the bartender. The group and the bartender looking at her. “Is there a room available?”

“Y-Yeah?” the older man said, looking even more confused. “Fourth room on the right, it’ll be-” he paused, getting a good look at bags under Rebecca’s eyes. “Know what… you can pay in the morning.”

“Thank you,“ she said, moving towards the hallway the barkeep motioned towards. “I will leave payment with you before I leave.”

“Right…” the bartender said, him and the group still slightly confused by Rebecca’s attitude. The General hurrying towards the room and setting her things down next to the ratty old bed. She took off her shoes and laid down to rest, full of excitement and a hint of confusion at what she hoped was a confirmation of her goal.

“He is here… and he was raised in this village!” she whispered excitedly. The comment about one of the two knights not having any magic. “He sounds excitable, but if he has no magic… Oh, what am I thinking, his magic must simply be too enormous for people to get a proper bearing on!”

She pulled the thin blanket over herself, finding the fabric more comfortable for a reason she wasn’t quite sure about. Maybe it was the warmer climate? That made the most sense to her as she quickly fell asleep in the run-down room. 

She was used to dreams, especially nightmares. They all started the same way, the warmth of hugging a small infant, then a shattering noise of glass and a sharp pain that would end the dream. This one was different though. 

A warm fireplace, that was the first thing Rebecca was aware of. Her eyes opened, and there was a sight that hurt almost as much as her nightmares to see. A young boy, he looked to be about five years old, with ash blonde hair, sitting in the middle of a room reading what appeared to be a picture book. 

“As...ta?” she said, slowly standing up and moving slowly towards the small boy. Tears were already welling up inside her, each step that she took made them grow more and more.

“Yeah sis?” Asta said, Rebecca reaching him and pulling her brother into a hug. It felt so real, oh so real to the general. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” she said, hugging the dream version of her little brother a little tighter. “Yes, yes I’m fine Asta.” Her little brother hugging her back.

“Good!” He said, his voice full of energy. “Mom and Dad say we can go camping soon!”

“Wonderful,” Rebecca said, wiping away a tear and lifting Asta up, getting a happy laugh out of the boy. “I’ll teach you about plants!”

“But I already know about all of them!” Asta responded, Rebecca looking at him with a raised eyebrow. The warmth fading from the room as Asta’s face seemed to lose its colour. “I had to teach myself when you were looking for me.”

“When I was… Asta, I'm-” she started, Asta smiling at her.

“I know!” He said, the warmth coming back. “You were working really hard!”

“It wasn’t hard enough!” Rebecca almost shouted, her voice cracking a bit. “I-It took me fifteen years to get here!” Asta hugging her.

“You still came though.” he said Rebecca setting him on the ground, now completely in tears. “It was hard but you did it! You can find me for real now!”

“Yes… Yes, I can.” Rebecca said, hugging the dream version of Asta once more. “I’ll do it soon, little brother, I promise.”

“Good!” He said, the room completely warm again. “But you should probably wake up now, I don’t think someone’s going to wake you up today.” Rebecca nodding and hugging Asta once more as the dream started to fall apart, her brother waving with both arms and a smile as her eyes opened to the sight of the old run-down ceiling of her room. 

The chirping of birds told her it wasn’t too late into the morning, so she let out a yawn as she slowly moved to sit on the side of the bed. Unlike the Spade Kingdom, there was no servant waiting to deliver the general’s routine, there was no armoire of clothes waiting to be put on their owner. 

There was no waiting, perfectly brewed coffee waiting to energize the general. And she was feeling it as she got dressed and stepped outside, the proper amount of money in hand.

“...Did you even sleep?” the owner asked, taking the money from Rebecca. The general looking at a somewhat clean plate and noticing just how exhausted she looked.

“Yes, it was a wonderful night,” she said, fighting back a yawn. “Thank you.” the owner giving some sort of acknowledgement as she stepped outside and into the sunlight. Now, she could get a good start on her journey. Back at her home she rarely, if ever, got to sit outside and eat.

And that was a freedom she now had, the woman walked towards the edge of the village and finding a fairly large tree to sit under. She opened her bag and took out a small metal container, something her father had made for her to carry food. She smiled, opening the container and grabbed her grimoire.

“Heat Magic: Mini Warmth Granting Spear.” She muttered, her magic forming as a small fork-like spear as she placed it in the container, it only took a minute but soon the food was piping hot. She smiled, picturing the day when her entire family could eat at one table again. Not many people payed her any attention, to them she was just a traveller eating something that smelt delicious.

She took her time with the meal, watching as people ran back and forth along the nearby worn dirt streets of Hage. However, since she was now able to take a good look at the village, parts of it looked like they were being repaired from some sort of attack.

“...Who would bother attacking a village this far out?” she thought, finishing her meal and standing up. It may not have been coffee, but the meal gave her enough energy to feel more like herself. “There’s no strategic sense in attacking this place, occupying maybe for a night but nothing that should’ve destroyed buildings.”

“Maybe it had something to do with those distant pillars of light?” she continued, walking silently through the village. “Some sort of country wide attack could’ve caused minor damage to the outskirt villages, and that would explain the lack of mourning or worrying about injured.” 

Her mind started to wander just a small bit as she kept walking, if this was her brother’s adoptive home, then where was he? Was he okay? She moved a little faster, starting to run at a decent pace towards the outskirts. The capital, thankfully, would act as a landmark for her, the large hill staying visible in the distance, no matter where she went.

“Look out!” someone yelled, Rebecca stopping dead in her tracks with a little girl looking up in her. She had black hair and a small, somewhat worn purple dress, and A basket of what appeared to be potatoes in her hands. 

“Apologies, little one,” she said, her accent breaking through as she tried to focus on what was around her. The young girl taking a few nervous steps back, Rebecca doing the same to give the child space. 

“Aruru,” an older woman said, running forward to check on the child. “Please stop running ahead when we’re walking.” She was head to toe in black robes with a nun habit on her head and a simple necklace bearing a cross at the end.

“Sorry, Sister,” the little girl said, getting a soft pat on the head from the nun. Rebecca noticed that three other children were in the group as she turned to leave.

“Are you alright?” the woman said, Rebecca nodding silently and walking away. “That’s good. Now Aruru, why did you run ahead like that?”

“I wanted to see if mail came!” the little girl said, Rebecca still just within earshot and cracking a smile at the child’s enthusiasm. “I want to know if Asta and Yuno are okay!”

Rebecca stopped dead in her tracks, which got one of the older kids to look warily at her as the Nun sighed.

“When letters arrive we’ll let you be the first to read them, okay?” she said, getting a happy response from Aruru. “Now, let’s get home.” Rebecca stood there, thinking about the best course of action.

‘I could follow them, if they know Asta…’ she thought, starting to move again. “...then I could see where he grew up. Maybe find out more about him.” she kept walking, looking at the capital in the distance. ‘Or, I can go and see if he’s in the capital… and meet him.’ The group was starting to move away from her, she had to make a decision.

“Heat magic: Fata Morgana” she whispered, and her body disappeared from view. Due to the nature of her heat magic, she was able to recreate the natural phenomenon. Making the world bend around her through a mirage, and using mirages to completely mask her physical presence. In battle, this would allow her to disorient the enemy if she expanded the mirage to a larger area. However for this, she kept it to herself, following the group towards the run down church.

She kept her distance, following the group to what appeared to be a rundown church. An older man, easily nearing or in his sixties, was sweeping off the front step as the gate swung open as the two youngest children ran towards him.

“Father!” Aruru said, still holding the potato, “did Asta send a letter yet?”

“What about Yuno?” the other child said, struggling to not drop his potato. Rebecca carefully climbed over the fence and moved to hear them as the Father smiled. 

“Well, not from Asta, but we did get one from Yuno!” he said, his face beaming as he quickly opened the door to the church and grabbed a letter, presumably from something right next to the door.

“Well about time we heard from one of them!” the oldest child said with a playful grin. “What’s it say!?” The entire group moving in closer, Rebecca included.

“Well give me a chance to open it!” the man shouted, the kids laughing at him as he fiddled with the envelope. “Let’s see…”

“To everyone at the church,

I’m out of the medical ward, Asta’s still being treated by doctors. 

Assigned to guard the more populated areas, a slight pain. 

Hope to visit you soon,

Yuno.”

“As blunt as ever…” the oldest boy in the group sighed, the younger kids happily laughing at their oldest siblings letter.

“Can they both visit soon?” the youngest said as he tugged on the Father’s pants. 

“Soon, Hollo.” the man said, leaning down and picking up the child, Hollo giggling in response.

“Now then, let’s have some lunch.” the nun said, everyone walking inside and, unknowingly, leaving Rebecca alone with her thoughts.

“He’s in the medical ward?” she wondered, moving away from the church. Various thoughts ran through her head at what could keep someone there for a week. If it was an injury, even with healing magic it should’ve only taken a few days to mend any wound. Unless… there wasn’t a wound to mend.

She broke out into a sprint, dropping her illusion spell once she got a small distance from the church grounds. The only injuries that would keep someone hospitalized for this long were either near fatal, or involved the loss of a limb. A few horrifying images of Asta being horribly scarred, mangled, and even missing body parts flew through her mind.

“No, I won’t lose him.” she thought, trying to force the mental images away. “He’s fine, he has to be.” She kept running, her mind filing with possibilities despite her own assurances that her brother was safe and healthy. ”He will be fine… as long as he’s alive, he’ll be fine. As long as he’s alive we can still be a family.” She repeated that thought to keep herself calm, and continued to run towards the capital, only stopping for the necessities. Once night fell she did her best to find a safe place to sleep, since there were no towns in sight. Once a makeshift camp was made, she quickly ate and went to sleep. Miraculously being blessed with a dreamless night rather than nightmares.

Her first official day in the Clover Kingdom came to a close, and she was one step closer to her family being whole again.


	3. Keep on moving forward

Waking herself up was far harder than she thought it would be. It took the unfamiliar scream of cicada’s to wake her up late in the morning. Another difficult morning waking up, she was sluggish, cranky, and irritable, the only saving grace being her last portion of her father’s cooking as breakfast. It wound up being past noon before she was able to get moving, much to her irritation. 

“If I move through the night, I can more than likely make it to the capital city…” she muttered, eyeballing the distance between her and the capital. “On foot that is… if I were to fly in I’d be there in a matter of hours…” She silently cursed herself for abandoning her broom in the neutral area, but she didn’t know the laws about flight in Clover.

She could risk it, but the last thing she needed was the knights arresting her for violating a law she didn’t know about. Then she’d risk never finding her brother, and that wouldn’t stand.

“Maybe if I stayed low?” she said, looking at a fairly large broken tree branch. “Hmmm then I could at least say I was wanting to hurry.” she sighed, moving the branch and taking a step back.

She saw a small bundle of baby wild rabbits, all huddled up and sleeping peacefully. The covering their mother had used for the warren had somehow been caught on the branch. Rebecca smiled, looking at the softly sleeping kits and very, very carefully positioning the grass covering back on top of the warren.

“Rest, little ones,” she thought, catching a light grey baby yawning as she made sure their nest was safe. “I apologize for bothering you.” Admittedly, part of her wanted to look at the tiny infants more, but she knew better than to leave them uncovered for too long.

But now she had a decision to make, risk flight and get to her destination, or walk and potentially miss out on finding him before he’s completely recovered. She decided to walk, keeping the branch with her just in case something happened. 

Nothing did of course, at least for a few hours. A long, almost painfully quiet hike towards the capital was interrupted by a feeling Rebecca was dreading. The presence of enough mages to force her to be ready for anything, had the Knights gotten wind of her? Had they been letting her enter the kingdom just to enact an ambush? 

Ten… no twenty different types of magic, all coming from the south. Rebecca turned to face them, readying herself for whatever may come. 

“Keep moving, men!” one of the shouted, the group flying over the general’s head, almost missing her completely. She stayed ready, noticing they were certainly not wearing any sort of uniform. 

“Brigands?” she thought, staying still as she started to think about the best course of action. Naturally she could just exterminate them, she may be outnumbered but her greatest advantage magic wise was the versatility heat magic provided. She could move out of sight, opting to hide and let whoever was pursuing them handle the situation. A very routine set of thoughts for handling potential criminals for her.

“But what if…” she thought, the image of her capturing the bandits and delivering them to the knights coming to her. A little scene playing out in her mind, she would show up, bandits still completely alive and bound.. Be welcomed and allowed to see Asta who would say “My sister’s the coolest!!” for bringing in a group of criminals. 

She was so absorbed in the idea that she barely registered someone grabbing her and using her as a human shield. Well, not for very long as she took a deep breath and exhaled, the assailants arm starting to ice over as she focused her magic.

“I will advise you let go, if you want to keep that arm.” she said, her voice devoid of any mercy or fear even with a magically created flame dagger pointed at her throat. The assailant looking terrified as his arm kept on icing over around Rebecca’s neck.

“Boss!” one of the minions shouted, not quite catching his panicked expression being directed at Rebecca. “He’s caught up, he’s-” he was blasted in the back from what seemed to be a ray of light, and fell to the ground unconscious. Rebecca, now focused on the incoming third party, was both pleasantly surprised, and more than a little nervous to see a magic knight robe on the figure.

Very light brown hair that looked somewhat like a mop without its handle, bordering on violet of all things, and covering the left side of his face. His face was so stern it almost reminded Rebecca of her brutal instructors growing up. Something about him gave off a dangerous feeling, like he was ready to kill at a moments notice.

“You bastard!” the leader shouted, making the fatal mistake of letting go of Rebecca to shoot a burst of flame at the knight, who easily dodged it. “You won’t catch us aga-!” He didn't get to finish as Rebecca’s foot impacted his stomach.

“Heat magic: Thermal Afterburn” she muttered, a blast of heat shooting out around her and sending the leader flying, and landing in a heap several yards away. The spell, ideally, would be non lethal. As it simply allowed Rebecca to accelerate herself to inhuman speeds with little drawback. She quickly turned her attention to the knight, who was still dodging magic and looking increasingly angry.

“You bastards…” Gauche thought, gritting his teeth and picturing something in his mind. A young girl, several years younger than him happily smiling as he cartoonishly brought the bandits to a prison.

“Big brother! You’re the coolest!” the girl said, Gauche smiling and standing triumphantly in his mind before snapping back to reality.

“I’ll throw you back in prison and then Marie will think I'm cool!!!!” the man shouted, getting a confused look from the bandits and Rebecca as a mirror appeared next to him. “Mirror magic: Reflect Ray!” 

The power behind the spell almost caught Rebecca off guard, and it certainly caught the bandit who tried to block it by surprise as he went flying backwards. One of them made the error of trying to grab her, so she quickly dispatched him upwards with a powerful magically accelerated punch. 

To a normal soldier, these bandits might be trouble. However, both the General and the Knight were not normal foot soldiers. While Gauche would’ve been completely fine, for some reason the bandits kept on trying to rush Rebecca, leaving themselves open to the knights assault from the sky. 

“Who the hell is that?” Gauche thought, watching another bandit get kicked into a heap as he blasted them with magic. The woman wasn’t even being brushed by any attacks, instead moving around like a phantom and taking the criminals out with single strikes. “...well, she’s not my target,” he thought, blasting one of the remaining bandits who was foolishly trying to flee.

“I may have made a mistake in judgement,” Rebecca sighed, drop kicking the second to last criminal and warily watching the knight. She had noticed he’d been keeping his eye on her through the entire fight, and knew this would lead to trouble. “If he mentions me in his report and I don't make it in time, things will… get difficult.”

“She’s too good a mage to just be a traveller,” Gauche thought, while he may not care, he was certainly smart enough to recognize this. Was it his paranoia making him overly cautious? “Whatever, I'll just report her as suspicious and then bring these assholes in, and then Marie will think I'm cool again.” He idly finished the last bandit, blasting the poor sap into a pile with the rest of his comrades before descending to the ground.

Rebecca had to decide immediately what her course of action would be. Walking away without a word might be the best, the knight does need to make sure these brigands are monitored until they can be properly arrested. Yes, this would be the easiest course of action, and produce the least risk. One yard, two yards, three yards away before the knight said something.

“Hey, who the hell are you!?” he said, his voice full of what Rebecca could only describe as a high level of scrutiny. She paused, if she kept moving he’d just target her and the bandits might get away. 

“I am just a skilled traveller,” she said, it wasn’t a lie. In fact it was the complete truth when you broke down what she was doing to the basest level. 

“Right…” Gauche said, his gut was telling him something was off, but she didn’t do anything that would be more than self defense. “Well, try flying next time will ya?”

“I was simply enjoying nature for a time,” she said, quietly grabbing one of the bandit's brooms to use as her own. “However, I will exercise more caution from now on.” On the surface she seemed calm, even giving the knight a simple innocent smile. While internally she was screaming in panic at how close her plan was to falling apart.

“Fine, just get out of here.” Gauche said, while not entirely satisfied with the answer, he was aware that the bandit group might be able to get away if he didn’t watch them. Rebecca nodded and continued to walk away, only hopping on the broom when she was certain that she was safe to do so.

Admittedly, part of her did enjoy walking through the kingdom her brother knew as his home. But flying was so much more liberating in terms of speed. She flew at what she considered a leisurely pace, the capital now getting closer and closer, she was even able to start making out some buildings.

Or what was left of those buildings. The capital in its entirety was heavily damaged, some buildings seemed to be under reconstruction but the sight was chilling. Nothing, not even an entire military invasion, should have caused this much damage without more signs of combat. She kept going, getting roughly half a kilometer from the capital before landing and taking time to observe.

As she expected the capital was under heavy guard, as it should be. However, instead of the separate force she expected to be guarding the area, it looked to be almost every knight brigade the kingdom had was on patrol. 

“They’re… all here?” Rebecca murmured from her observation spot. “Of course, if the capital is at risk they all should be here.” She moved carefully, they had no reason to suspect this short blonde woman was any threat, and she wouldn’t give them a reason to. 

“Come on, let’s keep moving,” she heard one of the knights say, none of the knights seeing her as anything more than a traveller, at least in this group. 

“Yeah, I don’t want that crazy captain of yours to burn us to ash,” another said, the entire group shivering before increasing their pace.

“And I don’t want to be cut in half by yours,” another said before they all started sprinting along what Rebecca assumed was their patrol path. She kept moving, a majority of the knights being more focused on either patrolling or fortifying the walls of the capital. Everything was going smoothly, and that was making Rebecca nervous. 

She approached the entrance, knights on every side of her. There didn’t seem to be anything needed to enter the capital, despite the increase of security. She tried to steady herself, had the knight from earlier reported her? Did the knights know something was strange and planning a trap for her? She kept moving, a taller red headed knight was waiting at the end of the tunnel, presumably being given a report by one of the knights talking to her.

“Yes Captain, the bandits have been brought to holding cells like you instructed.” The knight said, Rebecca unintentionally eavesdropping on the conversation as she walked by. 

“Good,” the woman said, her eyes meeting Rebecca and getting a small flinch out of the foreign general. “And the other woman who was involved in the fight…”

“Yes, we’re expecting her to arrive shortl-” the other knight said, before being completely ignored as the Captain walked towards Rebecca.

“Is right here,” She said, giving the shorter woman a menacing grin. Both of them staring at each other, Rebecca tried her best to steel her nerves, but something about the woman’s presence was making it very hard to stay calm. It was like staring down a very dangerous wild animal.

“Can I help you, miss knight?” She said, keeping her voice as level as possible. She needed to stay calm, and try to get a read on this woman’s magic. 

“Yes, you can.” Mereoleona Vermillion said, doing the same and attempting to get a read on the smaller woman’s power. “According to a report, you were involved with bandits were you not?”

“That I was,” Rebecca responded, getting a feeling that lying to her would be a grave mistake. “They were attempting to flee one of the knights, and attempted to take me hostage. So I defended myself.”

“Yes, you did quite well,” the older woman said, her smile now a thin frown with a glare. “Too well.”

Rebecca did everything possible to hide a nervous swallow. “I don’t understand what you mean?” she said, knowing it was a lie. Of course one of their military leaders would be suspicious of a traveller who effortlessly fought on par with a knight. She took a step back as a flaming lion paw materialized out of the woman’s back and grabbed her head.

“Now then,” she said, Rebecca sweating buckets from the flame magic. “Why are you here?”

A simple question that, despite the intensity of the current situation Rebecca was able to answer very calmly. “I am checking up on my little brother, I just want to make sure he is okay.”

There was a pause, a long one, several minutes of tense silence as Rebecca and Mereoleona stared each other down. They were both trying to read each other, the captain naturally couldn’t let someone into the capital, only a fool would put citizens in direct harm. The other knights were getting antsy, watching with a tense anticipation at what would happen, neither woman blinked or looked at anything else.

Without a word, Mereoleona lowered Rebecca to the ground and waved her though. The general nodding, the wordless exchange between the two of them being all they needed to know about each other's character. The general, absolutely not looking for a fight and being completely honest about her reason for coming. The captain, wanting to keep some semblance of order after whatever hellish nightmare happened that she couldn’t risk a fight with civilians nearby.

They, on some level, understood each other. Just in terms of not picking pointless battles. Mereoleona still had her suspicions, and ordered a few knights to shadow the newcomer. After all, she may be wild and uncontrollable, but she was smart.

Rebecca, naturally noticing the knights following her, and kept a steady pace. Her first stop would confuse them, maybe give the crimson robed knights reason to run back to their captain. It was the library, she simply had to enter the building and find the correct section to sit in. As expected, the knights stayed just close enough and were more than likely perplexed as to why she was heading there first.

“First, some research.” she thought, stopping and asking for directions to the biggest library available at the moment. “I’ll need to know what this kingdom considers good behavior for siblings, and some recipes. He may not like our home’s cooking.”

She found the library after some time, completely packed full of books and all sorts of tomes for her to explore. She practically sprinted to find the section for family care and cooking, so many things were now in reach for her to do. So many dreams could be a reality now, she almost forgot that there were some knights tailing her and practically skipped along the shelves, grabbing any book that seemed to catch her eye.

Meanwhile, the three crimson lions were watching as their target simply picked off book after book and slowly encased herself in a fort of knowledge. Cookbooks the size of her forearm, and more than enough books to make their own library. She was incredibly happy, if the size of her smile was any indication. She grabbed her journal, flipped to a blank page, and started feverishly noting the book name and pages recipes that caught her eye were in. 

“Curry… this may be interesting.” she muttered, taking note of a few recipes for that. “You can put cheese in bread?” more notes, one page quickly turning into four. She was so absorbed in reading that she didn’t notice one of the knights leaving to report her activities. 

The last cookbook closed, Rebecca’s journal now full of dozens if not hundreds of recipes she could make in the future. Now it was time for the important books, the books that would help her determine her own future.

“How to care for a new sibling,” she whispered, pulling the book from the pile and opening it. Naturally, it was more geared towards newborn siblings, how to help take care of them, what to do in emergencies. All good things to know, but not what she needed. The next few books all wound up like that, the general sighing and putting them back exactly where she got them. 

“Being an older sibling during adolescence,” this one might be useful. 

“While you went through adolescence in your own way, your sibling may go through something entirely different,” the book started, Rebecca leaning in and continuing to read. “They may act out, seem distant, or have an entire dynamic shift in their personality. Things they once enjoyed doing may be spoken of as mundane, or even detested now.”

“Yes…” Rebecca muttered, writing down bits and pieces of information from the book. She naturally had to be ready for anything, as much as it hurt to admit. The image of Asta she had built up for herself over the past sixteen years may not be the reality she was sprinting towards.

She kept reading, she needed to be prepared. After all, her brother could have any combination of fire and water as his magic. And if she was any metric to judge by, exceptionally powerful at that. Maybe he’d be an entirely water mage like their father, or a powerful fire mage like their mother. She took a break for the moment, her pen idly drawing a rough approximation of what her brother would look like using magic.

How would it manifest? Fireballs, water spouts, maybe even steam magic. The possible combinations of magic were so numerous she couldn’t help but jot them down. There was even the chance of magic being skipped over for a generation, so on went possibilities from their parent’s parents. She took a breath, silently cursing herself for getting distracted she returned to the books. 

“A quiz on how good a sibling you are!” the book seemed almost childish, and looked like someone had blasted the pages with magic, presumably for giving an unfavourable answer. Still, Rebecca was curious, she only had a few months experience but it was worth a try.

The first question: “If your sibling was playing with friends and were approaching something unsafe, what would you do?”

A) Ignore it and let them face the consequences?  
B) Stop whatever activity and make sure all the children are safe?  
C) Get someone else and leave them unsupervised?

Rebecca almost felt insulted at the obvious correct choice. “B, stop their activities and make sure no harm comes to them.” she wrote, the book absorbing the ink and glowing as it accepted her answer. She turned to the next page with a smile, ready to attempt the next question.

“If your sibling confided in you that they had done something wrong and were trying to fix it, what would you do?”

A) Agree to keep it secret and offer help?  
B) Tell your parents or guardian what happened and break the trust your sibling had in you?  
C) Explain that hiding it from your parents or guardian will make it worse?

This one gave Rebecca a moment of pause. She didn’t know what to do in a scenario like this. Growing up had been difficult with what happened to their family, secrets weren’t a luxury with her position either. She took a breath, and marked down C. Keeping the trust of her sibling was paramount, but so was keeping the trust of their parents.

The book glowed, and the ink was absorbed, this continued through eight more questions. Rebecca answering as best as she could before reaching the end. 

“Judgement: You are still learning how to be a sibling, understanding the boundaries between a new sibling and older sibling will be tough, but you seem determined on being a proper role model for them.” The book said, Rebecca reading it over a few times and nodding. She was admittedly a little hurt at the “new sibling” judgement, but she had to admit it was accurate. Sighing, she happily closed the book and walked over to the shelf she grabbed it from, before going back and continuing to read.

Elsewhere in the capital, Mereoleona had read over the knight's report a few times, before sighing. She had meant to get to this earlier, but a certain Green praying mantis knight had decided to lie about what he had done in the Elf crisis within earshot of her, so she needed to set him straight.

“...studying cooking and childcare?” she sighed, pieces of her story now falling into place for the captain. Combined with notes about her muttering over recipes that were very common for the clover kingdom, Mereoleona only had one simple thought. “She’s either an idiot or foreign, which means we need to make sure she’s not going to be a problem.”

“You!” she shouted, the one knight who gave the report jumping to attention. “Stay here and monitor everything, you aren’t allowed to leave until I get back!” She didn’t even wait for the confirmation of her order before taking off towards the library, she wouldn’t tolerate anything happened when it was her who let the threat into her den.

The lioness was gunning for Rebecca.


	4. Captured, is this the end?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has black clover spoilers for chapter 213 onward!

More books, she had managed to go through half the pile in a few minutes after taking the quiz. Most of them were for newborn children, things she knew how to do already, like swaddling an infant. She took a breath and move onto another pile, the sun now hanging low through the window as a few voices entered the room.

“Now, are you sure you’ve recovered enough?” an older, more stern voice said. “You should still be resting.”

“I’m completely fine!” a more energetic voice responded. Rebecca almost feeling the first person staring at them with suspicion. “Fine enough to catch up on my studies!”

There was a sigh, with Rebecca peeking out from her book fort to see two men, both with vibrant orange-red hair. With the taller of the two having what appeared to be an arm made out of fire. She shrunk a bit in her pile of books, wanting to stay unnoticed as they walked through the building.

“Then you will just study, do not push yourself while you’re recovering, Leopold.” the taller one said giving a worried smile. “Stick to the books we agreed upon, I will return after checking in with our sister.”

"Will do bro!" Leopold answered enthusiastically. His direction turned as his brother left, leading towards what she assumed was the section he was told to go. Once he had picked a few off the many shelves, his feet lead towards her table. They paused as his eye caught onto the enormous, and frankly a bit embarrassing, amount of books placed around Rebecca. "...uhhhhhmm?"

Rebecca shrank back into the pile of books, she didn’t realize just how much attention it drew to herself. She listened as the thud of another book hit the table, the squeak of a chair being pulled back and finally, a question.

“Is someone in there?” Leopold asked, his voice quiet but still full of energy.

Rebecca paused and took a breath. “Yes, there is.” There was a pause, the silence becoming so awkward from the unusual situation. She peeked out of her fort, catching a good look at how bruised and beat up the knight looked. 

“Has he been to a healer? He still looks like he’s been through hell.” she thought, grabbing another book to hide herself in. “I need to finish my research and then find my way to Asta.” She only had a few more books she felt she needed to read to be sure of everything, then she could simply leave and not risk any commotion.

Leopold, on the other hand, was admittedly giving into his curiosity at the mix of books across the table from him. He scanned over a few of the covers, a few cookbooks and a lot of books on what seemed to be child and family care were surrounding the woman. He couldn’t really get a good look at her despite the blonde hair thanks to the book she was reading.

“What would Fuegoleon do?” he thought, he knew his brother would be back soon to help with his studies. His curiosity was getting the better of him, the situation was just too strange to ignore and study. 

“That’s a lot of books!” he said, the awkwardness of the moment making him state the obvious. The silence returned, Rebecca peeking over the top of her book and nodding before returning to reading. 

“Why isn’t he leaving?” Rebecca thought, flipping through the last cookbook she grabbed and quickly writing down anything that caught her fancy. She was used to people avoiding her, intimidated by her presence, scared of her glare and… it hit her. She was trying to blend in and move away from her intimidating persona, and move towards something more wholesome and sisterly. She needed to think of something to say, and avoid going back to her old cold persona.

“I cannot deal with cool people,” Leopold thought, looking at the book he was supposed to study. He knew he had to catch up on lessons since his sister was far more intense than his brother with his training. But the amount of books, all on cooking and childcare, those were getting him interested. Was she getting a new sibling? Was she learning to cook for someone younger than her? His curiosity was getting the better of him, he needed to ask.

“What are all those books for?” Leopold said, managing to catch Rebecca by surprise and forced her out of her own thoughts on what to do. The General looking a little embarrassed as she thought up an answer for this stranger.

“...I am meeting my little brother for the first time soon,” she said, taking time to speak as carefully as possible. “It’s incredibly important that I know what I am getting myself into. So, I would like to continue my reading before I visit him.” She hoped that would be enough to let her focus on reading again, even if her gut instinct was telling her it wouldn’t.

“Meeting your brother?” Leopold said, now getting much more interested. “That must be amazing!”

“It certainly is,” Rebecca said, admittedly smiling at someone also viewing it as something amazing. “We were… estranged, some time ago. So this will also be the first time he meets me.” She was ready for something… negative. She was honestly expecting this stranger to accuse her of being a bad sister, maybe even accuse her of abandoning her brother. Instead, his voice was full of sympathy.

“It’s the best feeling in the world to get family back,” he said, his smile small and full of empathy. Since no one had to explain how hard it could be to almost lose a sibling to him.

“That’s… comforting.” Rebecca said, pausing to take a breath. The knight taking a moment to finally open the book he’d been ignoring for the past few minutes. They sat, silent before Rebecca decided to speak up.

“There’s… a small chance you may know him.” she said, Leopold looking up from his book as she flipped to one of the pages in her journal and slid it across the table. On the page was a rough drawing, one of the approximations Rebecca had done over the years of what her lost brother would look like. Spiky hair, a long strand coming out of the top and a beaming smile. “His name is-”

“It’s Asta!?” Leopold shouted, getting Rebecca to stand up and accidentally cause a few books to fall on her. 

“You know him!?” she said, trying to hide her excitement, and ignoring the pain. 

“Of course I know him. I’m his rival!” Leopold said proudly, Rebecca’s face lit up as she leapt over the table. 

“Wonderful!” Rebecca said, grabbing another chair and taking her notebook back. “Can you please tell me everything you know about him?”

“Of course!” Leopold said proudly, truth be told he always liked talking about his rival. So they began, Leopold starting with the knight exams as he was there observing with Rebecca being very curious about how he made a metal sword instead of anything from their parents. She’d have to check the family tree to see if any metal magic users were their ancestors.

Next was the star awarding ceremony, he very obvious skipped some details, but Rebecca wasn’t about to push. Her little brother managed to get two promotions for defending the capital, she was almost beaming with pride at that. She was a little disappointed to hear they didn’t see each other for a few months, lots for her to ask about later. But then came the Star Festival, Rebecca pretended to know what it was just to save time but then, then she heard something that made all logic and reasoning go out the window.

“And he was named the second hardest worker of all junior knights!” Leopold said, accidentally setting forth an unstoppable wave of emotions from Rebecca. She jumped from her chair, picked leopold up and hugged him before speaking.

“Я знал это! Я знаю, что мой младший брат был бы замечательным героем!” she shouted, Leopold looking very confused at the sudden dialect change. Rebecca practically swung Leopold around in a hug, laughing and almost crying with joy at how much her little brother had accomplished, right before realizing what her excitement just did. She stopped, calmly placed Leopold on a chair and then walked over her pile of books and quietly moved them all to block anyone from seeing her.

Outside the library, Fuegoleon and Mereoleona both heard Rebecca’s outburst. They paused for a split second before almost throwing the doors from their hinges and rushing inside. They turned the corner, grimoires open and Fuegoleon’s arm fully ignited in flames and saw something surprising.

Leopold, sitting and recovering from dizziness and a small blonde woman fortifying herself underneath a messy pile of books. Both older siblings looked between him, the woman accidentally knocking over a pile of books onto herself with an audible squeak. They stared at the scene as Leopold shook his head, and stood up.

“Leo, are you all right?” Fuegoleon said, the youngest sibling nodding as Mereoleona walked past him and stood in front of the book pile.

“Get out,” she growled, a small squeak being her only response as she glared at the pile of books.

“...no.” Rebecca said, her voice shaky and weak. She knew she had just blown any chance of seeing her brother, she would either be imprisoned or killed if they got the truth out of her, she failed.

“That wasn’t a request.” Mereoleona said, flaming lion paws forming out of her mana and reaching through the pile to grab at Rebecca. Or they would have under normal circumstances. The flames turned to ice as they got close to Rebecca, even with Mereoleona’s immense power and control, the flames would not reach their target. “Oh?” she said, grinning a bit, her mana swelling as she readied herself to pounce.

“Please do not burn the books,” Rebecca said, taking a deep breath to continue. “I will come out once I collect myself.” She couldn’t see the response, but she felt the Lioness silently agree.

“Now then,” Fuegoleon sighed, looking between the pile of books and his younger brother. “Leopold, what happened?”

“Well, Brother...” he started, admittedly still confused by the sudden shift in moods, “I was going to study like I said, but she was in such a large pile of books I got distracted. I’m sorry.”

Fuegoleon sighed, but both him and his sister couldn’t chide him for that. If they walked into a library and saw someone in a pile of books, they would be distracted as well. “That’s all right Leo. What else happened?”

“Well, she was looking at a bunch of cookbooks and child care books.” he continued, Mereoleona attempting to grab one of the books to get a better look at her current “prey.” Her hand wasn’t affected by any of the magic Rebecca had used earlier, she quickly took one of the books and managed to see one of the rarest phenomenons from the Spade Kingdom.

Her eyes were bloodshot, she was sniffling, and she looked like she was on the verge of a total emotional breakdown. Rebecca Light, unknown to the three knights in this room as one of the coldest, most cruel generals of the Spade Kingdom, was balled up on the floor, looking like a scared child. Rebecca gently reached for another book, and quietly put it on her head.

“And why was she looking at these types of books?” Mereoleona asked, not taking her eyes off of Rebecca. Leopold stammering for a moment before continuing. 

“She was wanting to learn about our food and how she should be a big sister.” Leopold said, both his siblings narrowing their eyes at Rebecca. 

“Well, her story is staying close to what she told me.” Mereoleona said removing more books due to her patience being tested. “She wanted to check up on… her… brother.” She flung all the books aside and grabbed Rebecca by the collar. 

“Sister, be calm.” Fuegoleon said, hoping to keep his sister from either killing this woman outright, or burning down the library. “Leo, did she mention who she was planning on meeting.”

Leopold took a breath, and carefully picked up the journal that had wound up on the floor. It was apparent to all three of the other people in the room that he was nervous about what he had to say. He took another breath and flipped to the page, his older siblings staring at him expectantly.

“It’s Asta.” he said, the two older siblings stared wide-eyed as Leopold flipped to the various drawings of the magic-less knight. “Or… at least someone who looks like him!” He calmly handed the book to his older brother, who looked over every drawing of someone who looked far too close to Asta to be a coincidence.

“I…” Rebecca said, steadying her breathing as Mereoleona was passed the book, “I just… want to meet my little brother.” The lioness looked at the drawings, then at her siblings and nodded at them.

“Does he have any connection to the Spade Kingdom?” Fuegoleon asked as the woman was set on the ground.

“None outside of blood,” She said, taking another breath to steady herself, she knew what was coming, and needed to prepare herself. The three Vermillion were watching her carefully as she took another breath, stood up straight and wiped away any tears on her face away. “However, I would assume you need to know my identity?”  
It was a reflexive move, Fuegoleon carefully positioning himself between Rebecca and his younger sibling. He didn’t feel a fight coming on but something was telling him to be ready for anything. Mereoleona’s eyes narrowed, Rebecca immediately seeing them as the eyes of a master hunter staring down prey. Leopold, knowing he needed to be more cautious, made ready to support his two siblings should something happened.

“Yes,” Fuegoleon said, his voice was deadly serious. “We will.” 

Rebecca nodded, took another breath and the entire feeling of the room changed as she opened her mouth. “I am Rebecca Ambrosia Light, High General of the Spade Kingdoms royal army and stealth divisions. My titles are the Queen of Ice and the Masked General, and I will now submit to your custody for further interrogation on the condition of being allowed to meet with and speak to my estranged sibling.”

The room was silent, Rebecca not moving from her rigid standing position the entire time as all three of the Vermillions thought about the scenario. Less than a few moments ago she was quietly hiding herself in a pile of books on how to raise children and cookbooks. They were now all facing a high ranking general from a hostile countries army willing to be taken into custody on the condition of meeting with one person. With the command structure of the knight being in almost complete upheaval due to the recent events, the king being… factually inept, and any level of defenses broken. Fuegoleon let out a breath and nodded.

“We will accept those terms,” he said, flipping to a page in his grimoire. “Flame Binding Magic: Leo Palma.” Lion paws wrapping around Rebecca and keeping her from moving anything more than her head. Mereoleona used her own magic to pick up Rebecca by her head and started moving out of the library. Leopold followed behind them, admittedly nervous at how close he was to someone who more than likely would’ve outstripped him in terms of power had a fight broke out. 

Soon, they were out of the building, Fuegoleon saying something and a large dragon appearing. The great spirit of flame, Salamander, something Rebecca had only heard about in stories, was directly in front of her.

“Leopold,” Fuegoleon said, climbing onto Salamander to use it for transport. “Go to the medical ward and check up on Asta, then meet us at the Magic Knight Headquarters.” 

“Yes sir!” the youngest sibling shouted, running off in a direction Rebecca couldn’t see with her limited movement. She was lifted onto the back of the great flame spirit, admittedly a little happy at how far she could see from mid-air. Despite all the buildings under repair, all the buildings they had yet to get to, and the general unease, she found it beautiful.

“Now then,” Mereoleona said, turning Rebecca to face her. “I’m not going to wait till we have you all tied up to start interrogating you!” The audible sigh from her little brother told the prisoner that something like this wasn’t entirely uncommon. “What were your orders, tell me or I'll burn you to a crisp!”

“I have two set of orders,” Rebecca replied calmly, well, as calmly as she could around the crimson lioness. “One was my official orders, which were to infiltrate the capital and report back to plan an invasion. I have elected to ignore those orders entirely as a war holds no meaning or purpose.”

“No purpose?” Fuegoleon said, his eye brow arched as salamander started to touch down near the heavily damaged headquarters, “But you said you are a general, and your kingdom has been a constant threat to us.”

“The Spade Kingdom holds no place in my heart,” she continued, being lifted off and brought inside. “The only thing that has mattered to me has been my second set of orders.”

“And those are!?” Mereoleona growled, understandably anxious about the thought of an invasion.

“My second set of orders are my own, that I have given myself.” she continued, knights moving out of the way as they walked through the building, “That I would find my brother, make sure he is alive and well, and then move my family from the Spade Kingdom to wherever he resides. Whether it be Clover, Heart, or even Diamond.”

“And the Spade Kingdom?” Fuegoleon asked, Mereoleona’s glare staying fixed on their prisoner.

“The Spade Kingdom holds no love from me,” she said, completely calmly to the point it was almost unnerving. “The only thing that is there worth anything to me is my father. And finding a way to get him out is another plan I would like to make.” The trio quickly fell into silence, all three of them knowing that might not be in the cards depending on what else she told them.

Fuegoleon stopped in front of a large door, Rebecca knowing that it would be where she would be interrogated. Her mind raced with a few ideas of how it could go, torture? Beatings? Blackmail or bribery? Regardless of whatever method they used, it would prove pointless to the General. 

A few mages were waiting for her, each of the ready with their grimoires and paper to write down any information should she give into their tactics. Fuegoleon undid his binding spell and before Rebecca knew it, she was bound to a post.

“I will return with the other captains shortly.” he said, both him and his sister walking out of the room as one of interrogators nodded. So, they would get information out and then present it as a form of trial perhaps? She didn’t know for sure but the second the door closed, everything changed.

Fuegoleon sighed, the situation with the capital had narrowly avoided getting worse. Thankfully, she was being agreeable, for the moment at least. 

“This will be interesting,” his older sister grinned, she always did enjoy a challenge. “So the runt has a sister?”

“Supposedly,” Fuegoleon sighed, he was admittedly doubtful that the family relation was true, even if his gut was telling him otherwise. They returned to a newly repaired upper floor, acting as a temporary command center while they rebuilt the capital. “But now we must investigate that possibility.”

“Yeah, we will.” Mereoleona sighed, spotting a certain mage through the crowd and sending out her flaming lion paws and hearing a scream. Like freshly caught prey, they were helplessly brought towards her. Marx, the attendant of the former Wizard King Julius Novachrono. And the other was his former boss, now significantly younger. Naturally, the magic geek of a wizard king was more than happy to have Mereolona use her magic in such a way, Marx was not.

“Mushroom head, get all the other captains here!” She shouted, Fuegoleon sighing as Marx glared back.

“I have a name!” he protested, failing to match the crimson lioness’s glare before sighing and opening his grimoire. A communication spell went live and normally this would be where Marx would call all the captains calmly and politely.

“Listen up, you bastards! Everyone report to headquarters immediately!” Mereoleona roared, Marx having to cover his ears from the sheer volume, much like everyone else in the room who wasn’t used to her. There were a few responses, a few shouts of protest from the sudden blast of volume but the seven remaining captains agreed.

“Will you at least tell us what’s going on?” Marx huffed, Mereoleona now putting him on the floor, Julius still beaming at her control over magic.

“The number two brat has a sister, and she’s sitting in the prison below us.” Mereoleona said, Marx looking wide eyed at the news and Julius almost bouncing in midair.

“He has a sister?” he said, no one quite used to his younger voice yet. “I wonder if she has anti-magic too, or maybe blade magic… I need to find out!” The tiny Wizard King tried to run, momentarily forgetting Mereoleona was still holding onto his head.

“Sir,” Fuegoleon sighed, Julius smiling at the captain. “She’s a criminal and you have stepped down from a position we can let you into the interrogation room.” 

“But-” Julius started, getting a glare from both captains and Marx, “but the magic possibilities!!!!!”

“No,” all three of the said, somehow knowing that he’d find a way in regardless. But they would try to stop him.

“You will stay up here,” Fuegoleon sighed, Julius giving him a pleading expression. “Now the three of us should go meet the others at the cell.” His sister and Marx nodded, all three of them leaving to go and begin the interrogation with Rebecca. However, Julius, still wise and wily as ever, started scheming together a way to get into the interrogation room.


	5. Say Hello

Asta had been distant after the whole incident, his body was constantly sore, and he of all people was anxious.

“Asta will die,” Julius’s words still rang through his mind as he sat in the medical bed. It was scary, being told he was going to die. He knew isolating himself was a bad idea, but he just needed space for once. Well, as much space as he’d get with how any people constantly were checking on him.

He took a breath, and stood up from the bed. No use sitting around moping, he wouldn’t be able to find a way out of this by running away. 

“Like hell I'm gonna just sit here and wait to die.” He muttered, making sure he had everything and stepping towards the door, only pausing because he felt a familiar Ki approaching.

“Hello, my rival!” Leopold said, his voice full of enthusiasm as the door swung open. Leopold had visited Asta quite a bit, even if he didn’t know about the premonition. “Oh excellent! You’re dressed! Let’s go!”

“Go?” Asta replied, honestly glad to have a proper excuse to leave the medical ward. “Go where?”

“You’re needed at headquarters,” Leopold said, Asta could almost see the positive Ki radiating off his friend. “There’s a surprise for you there!” Okay, that got him excited. His smile filled his face with energy and he blew past Leopold as he ran out the door. 

“Then let’s goooo…” he said, stumbling a bit as his muscles strained against the sudden burst of movement. Leopold caught him, keeping him from actually falling over. “Thanks!” he panted, giving the Crimson Lion a large smile as they walked towards the exit.

“It’s no problem!” Leopold said, his face also full of energy. Part of him admittedly wanted to say what was waiting for him, but reuniting with a long lost family member? He reluctantly kept quiet as they walked and made sure that someone knew Asta was okay to leave.

For Asta, the idea of a surprise being there was giving him a bit of hope. Had someone found out how he could avoid Julius’s premonition? Maybe something about a possible invasion as well. His mind was racing, could preventing one prediction prevent the other? Even if his body was strained, he practically dragged his friend out of the medical ward and waited for him to grab his broom.

“Can you give me a hint?” Asta said as they took off, the wind feeling wonderful after he’d been cooped up for so many days recovering. Leopold just shook his head, his ki was definitely telling of how excited he was at what was waiting for him. 

He was certainly excited, that much was certain. The idea of meeting a sibling you never had the chance to grow up with seemed exciting and full of adventure. But he was also nervous, Asta was certainly one of the kindest people he’d ever met, but would his reaction be the same as Leopold hoped?

Then there was the matter of her being a foreign general, he knew his two older siblings would make sure she didn’t pose a threat, but he couldn’t shake the unease around everything going on. Thankfully, he was able to push that unease aside and focus on playing dumb for his rival.

“Not a chance!” he half shouted, Asta groaning as the still under repair building grew closer. Leopold could feel something coming from the building, and just hoped it was a good thing.

Back inside the building, Fuegoleon, Mereoleona and Marx were all staring wide-eyed at the interrogation room. They had only been away for a few minutes, possibly fifteen at most, and the room was in complete chaos. Three of the interrogators were in heaps on the ground, two more were scrambling towards the trio in desperation and one poor soul was covered head to toe in paper. Meanwhile their prisoner was talking, talking just slow enough to be understood but fast enough that recording the information seemed nigh impossible.

“What…” Fuegoleon said, no matter how prepared he was for any situation, he was not ready for the chaos that they walked in on “...I have no words.” Some of the paper went flying as the last brave knights endurance gave out, their body hitting the floor and quietly weeping from hand cramps.

“Oh,” Rebecca said, just noticing the three walking in and pausing for a moment, “Forgive me, I insisted on hurrying through the unnecessary information.

“Unnecessary!?!?!” the exhausted workers shouted as Marx picked up one of the papers. He skimmed, then grabbed the paper and looked closer at it before slowly looking between Rebecca, who was affixed to a post, and the paper.

“You… You consider military strategy unnecessary information!?” He shouted, getting a quick nod from the prisoner.

“Yes,” she said with a small smile, “I was about to get to weaker parts of the kingdoms offense as well as known holes in its defense before you arrived.”

“Well, that sped up our job at least.” Mereoleona sighed, before walking towards Rebecca, the woman still smiling just a bit. “We were gonna have mushroom head search your memories for this shit anyway, as long as it’s accurate, now we won't have too.”

“It is accurate,” Rebecca responded, Mereoleona now at eye level to her thanks to the post giving her some additional height. “I have no reason to lie about things that would put my loved ones at risk.” They looked at each other, before Mereoleona grinned back at her.

“Good” she said, turning around and walking a little ways back. The heavy doors opening as only who Rebecca could assume were the other captains of the Clover Kingdom’s knights walked in. This was it, a moment Rebecca had been hoping for.

“I am presuming you are the Captains of the magic knights?” She said, most of them more than a little surprised at her reaction. Overall, most prisoners would be worried if all of the captains were in their interrogation room. “I am Rebecca Ambrosia Light, General of the Spade kingdom and elder sister to one of your knights.” That got a larger reaction out of them, looking between one another as Fuegoleon sighed. 

“Allegedly,” he said, noticing Yami squint at the woman. “We would’ve confirmed it but due to the situation in here we haven’t had the chance to have Marx check her memory.”

“There will be time for confirmation soon!” Rebecca said, interrupting Fuegoleon, all the captains looking at her like she was asking to be silenced. “But first… hmmm.” She paused, almost attempting to get her hand to cup her chin.

“Since when’s the prisoner supposed to lead the interrogation, King Hard Nose?” Yami chuckled, the middle Crimson Lion sighing as the assistant mages in the room collected themselves and all the papers.

“She’s not leading the interrogation,” Fuegoleon said, stepping forward and standing between Rebecca and the other captains. “Before you all arrived we managed to get a significant amount of information about the Spade Kingdoms military out of her, we just need to…” he paused, looking at all the papers scattered around, “organize it.”

“Hmmm … maybe…” Rebecca muttered, looking over all the captains who were currently present. She had remembered missions where her scouts had gone up against different squad. She had expected to see a captain with golden robes, but, as she only knew of nine captains existing for the Clover Kingdom, and there were nine people presumably with that status here, they must’ve been a special squad meant for country defense. No matter, her mind was putting together various thoughts about one simple thing.

What brigade was Asta in?

“If you’re going to say anything else, speak up!” Mereoleona shouted, a flaming paw grabbing Rebecca’s head and making it face the lioness. To the captain’s surprise, Rebecca nodded and smiled.

“I will, thank you,” she said, turning her attention back to the other captains and focusing on Charlotte Roselei. She had a very loose knowledge on the captains and their squads, mostly the names of each thanks to her intelligence network. “Hmmm… his blanket was blue, and his middle name is after a flower. Perhaps he’s in your brigade?”

“Who is she talking about?” the Blue Rose captain asked, feeling more than a little awkward at having a prisoner directly single her out.

“Apparently the famous screaming shrimp is her little brother.” Mereoleona grunted, the rest of the captains looking confused for a moment before realizing who she meant.

“Whaaaaaaaaaa?!” Rill said, the youngest captain almost jumping in surprise. Yami grabbed him by the collar to prevent him from running up to Rebecca. “He has a sister!?”

“Allegedly,” Fuegoleon sighed, Rebecca politely waiting and thinking of each captain’s possible qualifications to have taken in her little brother as a knight. “We’re bringing him here to help confirm if it’s a possibility.”

“So,” Nozel said, putting a hand to his chin. “There’s a possibility he could be giving information to a hostile country.”

“It’s a possibility,” Fuegoleon sighed, Rebecca jolting herself out of her thoughts at his words.

“It is not,” she said calmly. “This will be the first time we have ever met.” The captains looked at her with raised eyebrows as she continued. “Had he ever come into contact with anyone from Spade Kingdom, I would have found out.”

“Well that’s assuring,” Yami sighed, the other captains looking at him. “What? Pretty clear she ain’t lying.”

“And you can tell that just by looking at her!?” Rill asked, still wiggling with energy despite being lifted mid-air. “Quick, quick! What do you think of me as a captain!” The rest of the captain sighed, they knew this meant he’d insist on every one of them being judged if he found the answers interesting. They’d just have to grin and bear it until Asta arrived.

“Hmmmm,” Rebecca said, turning her attention to Rill and looking him over as best as she could from her interrogation post. He was on the younger side, and incredibly energetic so… “While having an assistant around the same age may be a benefit, I would have to meet the captain to give a proper judgement. Where are they?”

There was a somewhat awkward pause, Rill looking almost shocked at the hyper analysis of him as the rest of the captains stared at him. “Oh… I thought you’d have something more exciting to say… Wait but I AM the captain!” 

“That is bullshit,” Rebecca said, causing the room to go into almost absolute silence aside from Yami’s muffled laughter. “You are far too young and judging from your behaviour, too immature.” Rill looked devastated at her words, granted he had been called immature by practically every captain present, but it still hurt. 

“Nah, he’s a captain,” Yami chuckled, Rebecca looking completely stunned at the truth. Rill turned to him with a huge smile, his energy returning to him. “Though you hit the nail on the head about him being a little brat.” Rill’s energy deflated again, crossing his arms and turning away from Yami. 

Rebecca was still processing the fact that a person this childish was in charge of a branch of a country's military. It was ludicrous, improbable, and worrying that someone like this was in charge. Hopefully it was just a case of her being paranoid and that he was more skilled than his attitude let on. She took a breath and shifted her attention to the other captains, the way they carried themselves at least gave her some relief that not all of them were immature and possibly dangerous.

“...An unconventional weapon and therefore fighting style,” she said, taking note of Yami’s katana and the fact that he was the only captain with an actual weapon. “Black robes signifying unconventional tactics, perhaps a special operations unit?”

There was a beat, before Rill slowly turned to face Yami with a big frown. “Why do you get the cool one?!” he whined, Yami keeping him in midair as he wiggled. “Do everyone else!!” He shouted, getting another sigh from the captains a Rebecca scanned over the group.

“Wearing the colour of nobility, carrying himself in a dignified manner… Hmmm, a squad like that might be excellent to train a knight with a reputation like his…” she muttered, Kaiser Granvorka twirling his moustache and hiding a smile from the compliments. Rebecca turned her gaze to the smallest captain, and paused for just a moment before continuing.

“Is… is she asleep?” she asked, completely bewildered at how someone could both walk around safely while asleep, and be a high ranking military officer. “How. How can she possibly be a Captain if she’s asleep!?” Someone snorted, the type of snort you make when you need to desperately hide your laughter and fail. 

“Is she someone’s child and they were unable to find a proper caretaker on short notice?” she continued, the snorting getting louder as Yami turned away from the group. 

“She is twenty seven,” Marx said, the attendant watching as Rebecca, completely wide eyed with confusion lowered her head and started muttering.

“That doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t make sense you can’t lead a military force if you are immature or asleep all the time is a joke is this my torture is this my penance this makes no sense.” she said, talking so fast it was unnerving to the captains.

“Be quiet!” Mereoleona roared, grabbing Rebecca’s head and forcing it back up to look at the captains. 

“Please tell me the rest of you are proper leaders,” Rebecca muttered, the chaos of how the Clover Kingdom operated got to her far faster than anyone would’ve anticipated. 

“Yeah no, not her or skinny fuck over here.” Yami said, motioning at the tallest captain.

“I’m completely sane, you fucking asshole,” Jack hissed, a masive blade of magic forming on his arm as he walked towards his rival. “Now sit still so I can fucking cut you!”

“Everyone, quiet” Fuegoleon said, his voice strangely level as the brilliant flaming form of Salamander stepped out from behind him. “I know things are… tense to say the least. But let’s try to have some composure, yes?” In response, maybe from the fact that he was one of the more charismatic captains, or from pure respect, the mood in the room shifted. Jack calmed down, Rill perked back up, Yami let out a low sigh, and Rebecca regained a bit of composure. “Marx, how long until we can properly begin?”

“The papers are all organized,” the man sighed, the mess now neatly put into a pile behind him. “So we can begin as soon as Asta arrives.”

“Good,” Fuegoleon sighed, turning to Rebecca. “Once he arrives we’re going to scan your memories. This will be how we confirm if you two share a familial bond.”

“I understand,” Rebecca nodded. “I will not hide anything during this, but…”

“The runt’s in my squad,” Yami said, Rebecca looking at him with a hint of excitement in her eyes. “That’s what you were gonna ask, wasn’t it?”

“Yes!” she shouted, everyone internally glad the mood had become more relaxed. “Has he been eating well? I‘ve heard he was ranked as the second strongest new recruit? Can you talk about any of the work he’s done?”

“Eating his fill. Yeah he’s the number 2 rookie, and not now.” Yami said, taking a mental note of the shimmering ice crystals forming above Rebecca’s head. He sighed, catching the small competitive glares from the rest of the captains, sans Dorothy, and looked at the door. 

“I see!” Rebecca said, her legs kicking back and forth like an excited child. Her mind was racing, with now one thought going through her mind. ‘I can’t wait to see his magic, no one in our family can use metal so it’s strange that he can create weapons!’

“Well aren’t you as happy as a clam?” Yami sighed, something in his gut was telling him as soon as Asta arrived something would break. There was a crash from outside the door, loud enough for him to know who was about to walk in the room. There was a creak as one of the heavy doors swung open, Rebecca craning her neck to see someone she thought was lost forever. Her heart raced, Mereoleona swearing for a moment she could actually hear her excited heartbeat as in limped, with the assistance of Leopold and the young Julius, Asta.

“Hey kid,” Yami said, giving the boys hair an encouraging ruffle. “‘Bout time you showed up.” There was a pause as Asta looked around with a confused expression. He was expecting some news that might ease his anxiety about Julius’s prediction, not him helping with an interrogation. Especially not one with someone who looked… enthusiastic about being in this situation.

“Yeah…” he said, more than a little nervous as the stranger stared at him. “Why was I called? I asked but Leopold wouldn’t tell me.” His rival looking a little sheepish at the omission of information.

“As he should’ve” Fuegoleon said, getting a somewhat surprised look from his little brother. He stepped towards Asta and motioned at Rebecca. “Asta, this woman is claiming to be your blood relative, your sister specifically.”

There was a pause, Asta looking between the stern looking Fuegoleon and the absolutely beaming Rebecca. He stayed quiet, trying to process the information as the Crimson Lion captain put a hand on his shoulder. 

“Sadly, we do have… some concerns about her.” he said, Rebecca knew what was coming, and she braced herself for it. “Now, I will preface this with the fact that she has no intent to harm you.” Asta nodded, readying himself for whatever was going to happen.

“She’s a general from the Spade Kingdom,” he said, keeping his voice level as Asta’s eyes grew wider. He could feel the boy getting more anxious, Julius had let some of the captains know of his predictions, and he knew that this risked making Asta’s fear worse. “And I know it is sudden, but we need to ask you a few questions before we can properly begin questioning her.”

Asta’s eyes were wide, and he frantically looked between Rebecca and Fuegoleon. He took a deep breath, and nodded. Visibly trying to calm himself down as Marx stepped forward and opened his grimoire. 

“I don’t think we’ll need your magic, Mushroom head,” Yami said, looking between him and Asta. “The kid’s not the type who’d lie.”

“Agreed,” Fueogoleon said, Marx putting away his grimoire as Asta looked just a little less confused. “Now Asta, have you ever knowingly been in contact with anyone from the Spade Kingdom?”

“No?” he said, scratching his head and looking a little less worried. “At least I don’t think so?” Fuegoleon nodded in response, the captains as a whole seemed satisfied with that answer.

“Have you ever given any information to a foreign kingdom?” He asked, Asta stayed quiet for a moment before shaking his head. 

“No,” he said, getting a smile from Fuegoleon. “I’ve never given information to anyone from another kingdom.” Yami nodded to confirm, even if they knew people from the Diamond kingdom, Asta had never given out information to anyone. 

Fuegoleon took a breath, he knew he needed to word this correctly. “Now Asta, you grew up in an orphanage, correct?”

“Yeah!” Asta said, perking up a bit at a chance to talk about his hometown. “In Hage village! The place was run down but it was always warm in the winter!” He almost missed the smile Rebecca sent him as he spoke, something about it felt melancholy, but he didn’t quite get why.

“Have you…” Fuegoleon started, pausing to find the right words, “...Have you ever thought about where you were born?” There was another pause, Asta looking between the woman claiming to be his sister and the Captains. 

“Honestly… yeah a bit when I was younger.” he said, moving his arm and rubbing the back of his head. “I kinda wondered why they left me there, and who there were.”

“And how about now?” 

“Well… uh,” Asta said, pausing as he caught a look of shame on Rebecca’s face. “I’m… not sure. I think I'd just want to know if it was their choice or not.” There was a small noise, the captains all focusing on Rebecca again and watched the tears start to fall.

“It… It wasn’t our choice.” she coughed, trying to compose herself. She coughed again, trying to stop the tears that were now rolling down her face. However she wasn’t having any luck, her crying was getting worse and louder, to the point that she couldn’t say or do anything else.

“Let her out of the restraints,” Mereoleona said, the assistants in the room looking confused by her order. “We’re running the risk of her choking if this keeps up.”

“Agreed, Sister,” Fuegoleon said, moving to help lower Rebecca to the ground. “We have her grimoire sealed for the time being, and she’s been cooperative.” They moved quickly, the other captains staying ready if she tried anything, Leopold preparing to jump between either Marx of Julius, and Asta was moving to help her down. 

Or he would have, had his leg not seized up and he stumbled. The last restraint hit the ground and in an instant, Rebecca had him caught in her arms, and slowly sat down with him on the ground. She was still crying, but now that she was closer to Asta he could feel her ki. It was warm, full of happiness, and most importantly, genuine. 

“It’s okay,” she sobbed, Asta’s shoulder feeling incredibly damp all of a sudden. “Big sister’s here, it’s okay, it’s okay.” It took a moment, but he slowly hugged back. Rebecca let out a small cough as she began to calm down.

“You’re… my sister?” Asta said, Rebecca nodding and forcing a smile at her little brother. 

“Yes… Asta” she said, taking a few breaths. “We… we can talk more later, hopefully. But, I'm certain you’re my little brother. Oh gods, you even have Mother’s eyes.” The embrace lasted a few moments, only being broken as Fuegoleon opened his grimoire and flaming paws wrapped themselves around Rebecca’s lower body.

“I’ll be leaving your arms free, understood?” Fuegoleon said, Rebecca nodded and slowly released Asta from the hug. “Now then, Marx. you may begin.”

“Memory magic: Mémoire Absolue.” Marx said, a translucent dome forming over Rebecca’s head and shooting up, branching off into various different visualized memories. Some were vibrant, full of color and almost looked like they were taking place in the room. Others were dull, monochrome, and felt like she was actively trying to forget them. Everyone in the room took a quick look, the more vibrant memories were of what appeared to be the general’s youth, while the dull ones were after a certain point.

“We’ll begin here,” said Fuegoleon, pointing at a more vivid memory and everyone preparing to figure out what the truth was.


	6. Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the wonderful comments! Me and my Editor enjoy reading all of them! 
> 
> However as a warning, this chapter is why we tagged this story Dark. Please read with caution.

It was a hospital, everyone looking at the memory could tell from the seemingly universal white coats going past a much younger Rebecca. The captains watched and listened, the only thing anyone could hear other than the doctors talking to each other was the pained scream of a woman.

“Will Mama be okay?” a young voice said, the viewpoint changing to look at an older man, presumably her father. His hair was swept backwards with a tiny amount somehow staying aloft above his head. He gave a worried smile, and lowered himself to Rebecca’s level.

“Don’t worry, dear,” he said, ruffling his daughters hair. “Your mother’s strong, as is your new sibling. They’re both going to be okay.” Rebecca turned, the door in front of them opening with a nurse stepping out. 

“We... need you in here, now.” they said, Rebecca watched for just a moment as her father stepped towards the door before following him. The memory kept going, changing to looking at a large bed with a woman laying in it cradling a small bundle as tears slowly rolled down her face. Her long blonde hair was draped over the bundle, and her blue eyes were completely bloodshot.

“...Where are the cries?” Nozel muttered, his face paling as the memory kept going. Rebecca’s Father realizing what had happened and being brought to the side by the Midwife. Their viewpoint into the memory however, pushed past one of the nurses and scrambled up onto the bed.

“Mama?” she said quietly, the woman turning to look at her with bloodshot deep blue eyes. She gave a thin smile, and choked back tears as everyone got a good look at the little bundle. A small head of ashen hair was the first thing they all saw, then they saw the discolouration of the baby. Instead of a healthy reddish colour, the baby was pale and blue. His chest barely moved and he was completely silent. “Mama? Is that my new brother?” 

“Yes…” she said between a few choked sobs. “We.. Rebecca I… We only have a little time with him.” The spectators to this memory understood immediately, even the younger ones realized something had gone wrong during the birth.

“No!” Rebecca shouted, her hands moving in front of her face for a moment before she moved closer to Asta’s infant form. “No, we have to keep him! We were gonna play when he was bigger!” Her father moved into her field of vision, and sat on the side of the bed. 

“Rebecca…” he said, fighting back tears. “I’m sorry, he… he won’t…” He couldn’t finish his thoughts, and instead hugged his wife and daughter. Rebecca’s gaze stayed fixed on Asta as she did her best to wrap her arms around him.

“No… no…” she said, her vision clouded with tears. She carefully put one of her hands on Asta’s chest and moved in as close as the hug allowed. The captains watched, no one noticing Nozel turn away and cover his face with a hand. Asta watched, transfixed at the idea that despite this he had somehow survived. The babies breathing slowed, Rebecca still watching and letting out a huge cry. Her eyes slammed shut, there was nothing for a few moments before.

“Aah…” a small voice said, Rebecca’s eyes opening and seeing a tiny hand moving, “AAAAAH!” Asta cried, colour returning to his body as magic flowed around Rebecca’s hand and into Asta’s body. Their parents moved, the baby’s cries getting the entire family to start weeping in relief. 

“It’s a miracle from The Entity!” one of the midwives gasped, Rebecca not looking away from her now screaming and completely alive baby brother. Then the memory changed slightly, Rebecca’s thoughts being projected overtop the image of Asta slowly being calmed down.

‘It was me who did it!’ Rebecca’s thoughts said. ‘I saved him! I made a miracle happen! I get to keep my baby brother!” the words faded away as Asta kept crying, Rebecca leaning in close and putting one of her fingers in Asta’s tiny hands.

“We’ll be best friends,” she whispered as Asta kept crying in his family’s loving embrace, until Marx stopped the playback of the memory.

“That... “ he said, wiping away a tear, “that was… quite… emotional.” The group turning their attention to Asta and Rebecca rather than the latter’s memory. Asta was still in front of Rebecca, looking at her with silent tears streaming down his face. Everyone stayed quiet for a moment, letting the orphan collect himself as he wiped away the tears.

“I… almost died when I was born?” he said quietly, Rebecca nodding since Marx’s spell wasn’t actively displaying a memory. 

“Yes…” she said, slowly reaching out to touch his shoulder, “you were our little miracle.” Asta could barely react, the information made it hard to even fathom anything as she pulled him into a hug. 

Nozel however, was still collecting himself. It was hard to see something like that, even if it did end happily. For the eldest Silva child, seeing a near death experience related to childbirth reopened old wounds. Even if he tried, the idea that by some miracle his mother could’ve survived somehow and they would’ve had Noelle as well was now in his mind. 

“I will return shortly,” he said, making for the door despite some minor protesting from the interrogation assistants. “Continue without me.” The door quickly slammed shut, everyone staring for a moment before anyone spoke up.

“He’ll… need a moment,” Fuegoleon said, getting a nod from everyone. “Now then, Marx, I feel we’re ready to continue.” The assistant nodded, the spell reactivating on Rebecca as she slumped back to a more relaxed position.

“Papa!” the memory version of Rebecca said, the viewpoint being solely focused on the small sleeping form of Asta. His sleeping form wiggling at the sudden noise as Rebecca turned to look at the much happier version of their father. “Asta moved his hands!”

The older man chuckled, and moved next to Asta and slowly adjusted the blanket to keep Asta nice and cozy. “He’s going to be an active one, The Entity blessed him with energy,” he said, Asta wiggling a bit in response and ruining the blanket as his eyes opened. Bright green eyes met Rebecca’s and Asta opened his mouth.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAA!” he cried, the infant unsurprisingly being just as loud as everyone who had been around Asta would expect. In a flash Rebecca scooped Asta and her hands started glowing with magic, and his cries soon turned into content baby babble. 

“I see you know how to calm him down?” her father said with a chuckle, kneeling down and giving her an affectionate head rub. “Just like your mother.”

“Uh huh!” Rebecca said, Asta now happily wiggling in his blanket. “You said Mama needs to rest so I learned!” 

“There’s a good girl,” her father said, carefully picking up Rebecca and Asta. “You’ll have to look after him as his big sister. And you’re already off to a wonderful start!” The memory was cut off, Marx sighing as he used his magic to find another one to look at.

“As… frankly adorable as that is,” Charlotte said as Marx searched for anything of use. “Any connection is still anecdotal.” Rebecca’s eyes narrowed in response before she took a deep breath and pointed at one of the memories being displayed above her.

“I’m certain this one will prove that it’s not simply anecdotal,” she said calmly. Marx looked at it and with a quizzical look enlarged it and began playing it back for the group.

It was a much warmer day, everyone could tell that. Was it the warm season for the Kingdom of Snow? Either way, in the present it didn’t matter what was important now was the past. Rebecca turned to face her parents, both of them dressed in much lighter clothes to match the lush green area they were walking through. In the mother’s arms was a much larger child, now sporting a head of ashen hair. In the father’s was a woven basket, with a large loaf of bread sticking out of the cover, an ideal picnic location.

“This way, Papa!” Rebecca laughed, turning back around and seeing a field of beautiful flowers white and pink flowers with a small trail through it leading to a solitary pine tree. The young girl sprinted underneath the tree and unfurled a blanket she was carrying on the ground. She waited as her parents walked over, Asta slowly stirred due to a breeze and woke up with a sleepy yawn. Their mother gently put a hand on him and rubbed his head, the infant giving a happy babble in response.

“Well, looks like he’s excited too.” She laughed as Asta made grabby hands at her hair. The infant was trying to be as mobile as he could, even if he was only two or three months old at the time. He wiggled, tried to use his baby strength as much as possible to get out of his mothers grip and presumably crawl and look at things. Unfortunately, the infant was stopped by his mother's gentle grip and the fact that he couldn’t walk. 

The parents sat down on either side of Rebecca, the young girl beamed at the sunshine and warm air as a small picnic lunch was set out for them. Bread, jam, and dried meats, all perfect for a casual day with a family. The mother set Asta down on his back as Rebecca watched him begin doing the one thing a hyperactive infant could, wiggle and look at things that flew overhead. He reached up for a butterfly, Rebecca giggling and closing her eyes for just a moment before the clacking of plates meant it was time to eat.

“Good choices as always, dear,” the mother said, kissing her husband's cheek. The man laughed and gave her a quick kiss back, at which Rebecca gagged. “Really now, dear, I’m sure you’ll find someone you’ll feel this way about someday.”

“Yeuck” Rebecca gagged, her parents laughing a bit more as Asta wiggled on the ground. She turned her attention back to the happily wiggling baby just in time to see a butterfly land on his nose. His infant mind was overwhelmed, and he stared wide eyed as his sister gently shooed it away. He made a grab for it, missing by a mile since his arms were tiny and couldn’t move fast enough to get a hold of it.

Instead, he got part of Rebecca’s hair, the infant proving just capable enough to close his tiny hand around it and moved it close to his mouth. Rebecca giggled as he attempted to nibble her hair, the baby gently being picked up and carried in between their parents as they ate.

“We thank The Entity for this meal,” They all said as they finished. The point of view tilting a bit as Rebecca looked at her father.

“Papa?” She asked, her father giving her a small smile. “Do other countries thank The Entity?” His expression went through a few changes, denial, a hint of anger, insight, confusion and acceptance. 

“I’m… honestly not sure, Rebecca,” he said, the young girl turning to her mother who wore a similar expression. “Azalea, your work has you looking at other kingdoms. Do they?”

“Not that I can tell,” She said, getting momentarily distracted with the baby. She was silent for a moment, Asta now nibbling on her fingers ineffectively. “...why is it they don’t?” The family fell into a contemplative silence, the parents looking between Asta and Rebecca as something started to click in their minds.

“Maybe there’s a good reason?” The father said, barely audible to Rebecca who was now gleefully playing with Asta’s feet. “Azalea? Do you remember why we never travelled like we said we would on our wedding night?”

“No…” she said, Rebecca till focused on her baby brother despite the conversation. “I believe it wasn’t a ‘proper time’?” Both parents stayed silent for a moment, before the father spoke up.

“Rebecca,” he said, the girl turned her attention back to her parents despite the giggling baby. “Would you ever like to travel to another kingdom?” 

Somehow, everyone felt the grin on rebecca’s face grow incredibly large. “Uh huh!” she said, carefully moving Asta in between her and her parents again. “When Asta’s bigger, I wanna see everything!”

“Everything?” Azalea said, her face growing into a smile.

“Everythiiiiing!” Rebecca said, moving her arms to exaggerate it. “I wanna see the tallest mountain and the ocean! Are we going to the ocean? Please can we go?”

“Like you said,” the husband said, any worry completely gone from his face. “Once Asta’s big enough, we’ll go.” Rebecca cheered, picked up her brother and quickly sat between her parents. 

“Does that mean I can learn other languages like Mama?” she said, Azalea nodded as she pulled out something from the basket. It was a small set of clothes, presumably for Asta and a spool of black thread. 

“And we can start right now, Rebecca,” she said, quickly threading the needle and started on her work. “Now then, this is how you spell Asta’s name in the Clover Kingdoms language.” The group watched the memory, Asta’s eyes grew as wide as dinner plates as he pieced everything together.

“Those were my old pajamas!” he shouted, getting everyone to look at him. “They’re what the old man found me in! I’m sure of it!” The group looked at him for a moment as Marx released the spells control on Rebecca once again. With a grin, Asta removed his bandana and flipped it around. Revealing the same embroidery work they had just witnessed on the inside of his bandanna. “They kinda got eaten by moths, but the old man managed to save this part.” 

Rebecca stared at the embroidery, slowly reached her hand out and carefully took it from Asta. She stared at it, before the tears started flowing again as she gently handed it back to him. She nodded, that was all the confirmation Asta needed. The Captains let them have their moment as the door creaked back open and Nozel stepped back in.

“You get your pants cleaned or whatever, fancy hair?” Yami teased, the Silver Eagles captain choosing to ignore his fellow captains remark. His eyes went to the now hugging siblings, and felt something twinge in his heart.

“Yes, my business is taken care of,” he said, quietly moving back towards the front of the group. Dozens of thoughts were rushing through his mind, but he did his best to keep them all to the side for now. “I’m assuming a connection between them has been proven?”

“As far as we can tell,” Fuegoleon said, also watching as Rebecca slowly composed herself again, both her and Asta smiling. “There’s only one thing we need to find out now.”

“Yes,” Rebecca said, wiping her tears away on one of her sleeves, some of what appeared to be makeup going with it. “How we came to be separated.” The captains nodded, Marx readying the spell for what they hoped would be the last time as everyone watched with a tense gaze.

The memory started innocent enough, Rebecca looking at the infant Asta in his new sleeping clothes, the embroidery still visible underneath a small blanket with owls on it.

“Asta, Asta~,” Rebecca said, the infant slowly dozing off to his sister’s words as she placed a small plush owl in his crib. “You know you can’t sleep without Mr. Fluffles!” The baby gave a sleepy giggle as he held his toy and fell asleep. Rebecca reached into the crib and adjusted the blanket a bit as the wind outside howled. She smiled, before turning to leave and blow out the small lamp they used for light. 

“Water magic: Peaceful Rest Currents,” A deep voice said, Rebecca turning to see a figure crouched in the window with a grimoire open. She screamed, droplets of water sneaking through the window and approaching her.

“Mama! Papa! There’s… someone… in… the… win… dow,” she barely got to finish her words as the window flew open, breaking on the wall and sending glass flying. Rebecca, still barely conscious, could only watch with increasingly fading vision as the figure stepped forward and stuck a hand into the crib. 

She moved, magic flowing from her hands as heavy footfalls came towards the room. “Get. AWAY. FROM. HIM!” she screamed, her vision almost completely faded as she tackled her assailant. His clothes burned where her hands touched him and almost forced him to let go of the now screaming Asta. The door swung open, a hinge breaking from the sheer force of their parents momentum as the kidnapper delivered a panicked blow to Rebecca’s head, sending her flying to the ground and into shards of glass. Their mother screamed and lunged at the kidnapper, before a thick wall of water stopped her advance and he made for the window.

“Flame magic: Incinerating Blow!” she yelled, pushing through the water almost effortlessly and blowing a hole in the side of their house. The kidnapper managing to barely defend again as they made a break using a carpet to escape into a coming storm.

“Azalea, stay here and keep Rebecca warm!” the father shouted as water formed around his feet into what appeared to be armor. “I’ll find them, and I’ll get Asta back safely!”

“Be safe, Xavier,” she said, Rebecca’s vision now nearly completely red from the blood covering her eyes. He leapt out the window, Rebecca trying to keep focus on them as best she could. “It’s okay Rebecca, Mother’s here,” Azalea said, her voice much calmer than a moment ago as she used her nightgown as a makeshift bandage.

“As...ta… give him… back.” Rebecca said weakly, before the memory devolved into static. The entire room looked pale, Marx was barely able to keep the spell up as his hand shook. Rill looked like he had witnessed it first hand, his eyes wide and jaw hanging low in shock. Even Jack couldn’t hold a straight face and looked horrified.

Somehow, Mereoleona, Fuegoleon and Yami were keeping their expressions somewhat level, even if the binding spell around Rebecca dissolved due to what they saw. Charlotte looked as if she was going to be sick, Kaiser surprisingly had his fists clenched to the point where they looked like he would need to see a healer.

Nozel however, the seemingly eternally cool and in control Silver Eagles captain fell to his knees. His jaw hung open as his magic seemed to react in anger, mercury was forming around him for just a moment until he forced it back under control. Leopold barely reacted any better, seeing something like that was horrifying. Julius, somehow not visibly affected by what they saw, simply walked over to the newly reunited siblings. 

Asta could barely move, hell, he could barely think. That was how he wound up abandoned at the orphanage in Hage? He kept looking between everyone, the horrified expressions, the empathy from everything, and how normal his sister’s expression was.

“I have lived that memory every night of my life.” she said calmly, staying still as Julius stopped between the two. “We were offered no sympathy from our kingdom.”

“And why would that be?” The former Wizard King asked, all eyes going to him. “Would it have to do with this “Entity” that has come up in your memories?” Rebecca nodded, and took a moment to let everyone breath. Most of the captains had collected themselves, aside from Nozel whose gaze was still full of fury.

“Precisely,” she said, keeping her gaze focused on Asta. “After you were taken, they offered us no sympathy, saying it was all the will of The Entity.” She took a breath, heat radiating off her in anger as she recounted this memory herself. “Anyone, anything that could justify something like that was nothing more than a monster to me! And if there is a mastermind behind this if I ever meet them I will tear off their face and shove it down their damn throa-.” She cut herself off, taking a deep breath and choosing to be silent rather than continue her thought. Her hair was poofed up, only hairpins keeping it from exploding outwards like a ball of furious rage.

She took another breath, letting the room stay silent for another moment before continuing. “That was when our faith broke,” she said, meeting her brothers gaze. “No… being could’ve thought taking you away from us was the best thing for you. No true family would ever push away or wish their new member gone.”

There was silence for another moment, Asta quietly hugging his sister once again as the captains looked between each other. All of them catching Nozel looking like someone had hit him in the stomach. He took another moment to adjust before stepping forward.

“And what of your parents?” he said, his voice barely hiding his discomfort. “Should we assume they are still in the Spade Kingdom? Or have they taken a similar path as you?” The question made sense, and Nozel had expected Rebecca to take a moment before explaining everything, not looking at the Silver eagles captain with an expression he knew all too well. Her face was full of a deep self loathing as she opened and closed her mouth a few times. The words being too hard to force out. 

“Use… use the spell again. I… I can’t say it, it hurts too much.” she whispered, everyone looking at each other with confusion as Fuegoleon nodded. The memory mage quietly cast the spell again, following Rebecca’s pointing to a memory that was fading in and out visually.

“You there, girl.” someone said, The point of view turning to see a tall broad shouldered man, Rebecca looked up, the captain noting scars around his eyes as well as his cleft chin. “You are from the Light family are you not?”

“Yes, Sir,” Rebecca said, her voice now significantly deeper and more monotone. It was only out of the corner of her vision that the captains noticed her clothes were much more styled to a military form of dress. “That I am, Sir.”

The man grinned, the sort of grin that makes someone’s stomach lurch in pain. “Then, as your commanding officer, I order you to take these summons and deliver them to one Azalea Light. You are, under no circumstances, allowed to open them until you read them aloud to her. Understood?” 

“Yes, Sir,” Rebecca said taking the hefty envelope and saluting. Her commander still giving her that sickening grin as she turned to leave. The memory skipped ahead, fading in and out as the scene changed back to the tiny house they lived in. This was clearly years after the last memory, however everyone could feel the lack of warmth in the building. She opened the gate, walked to the door and slowly opened it.

The inside of the house looked dull, not for lack of things inside, but everything felt lifeless. She slowly walked inside, her parents both sitting at the dinner table eating, with a plush owl alone in a high chair. Her vision started to cloud, obscured by tears as the parents looked at her, then at the letter.

“Rebecca,” Azalea said, standing up and approaching her daughter. “That’s… what I think it is, isn’t it.” Rebecca’s vision clouded even more as her mother gently pulled her into a hug and began to weep. 

“Mo-Mother,” she whispered, Azalea now carefully taking the letter from her and keeping her daughter in an embrace. “I-I don’t want to read it.”

“Shhh,” her father said, joining the hug. A bit of warmth returning to the building as both parents held their daughter. “It’s okay,”

“I… I don’t want Mama to be gone too!” she wailed, the crying only being muffled by her family. “I don’t want to lose anyone else!”

“Rebecca,” Azalea said, her voice firm and full of kindness. “You will never lose me,” she knelt down, her eyes meeting Rebecca’s with the same vibrant green as Asta’s. “We will do what we always have done, we will adapt, and we will survive.”

“If anyone can survive what they’ll throw at her, it’s your mother.” Xavier said, pulling Rebecca close once again as the memory faded out for a moment. It came back to her, with the letter opened, reading it aloud.

“Under suspicion of high treason, Azalea Light is to report for re-education and assessment to the royal palace before midnight.” she took a breath, her voice attempting to stay level but giving way to disgust as she kept reading. “Upon a proper assessment of her faith to our kingdom, she will be allowed to return home.” She finished reading, her vision shaking as she did her best to stay standing. 

Azalea nodded, and gave her husband a kiss and carefully embraced her daughter once again before walking towards the door. “Rebecca, my sweet, sweet daughter. You bear no guilt for this, I always have and always will love you.”

“Mama…” she said quietly, Azalea giving her one last hug before the memory faded out completely.

“...It hurts,” Rebecca said, clutching at her chest. “It still hurts so much.”


	7. A Proper Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's been a while since an update. We're working hard to get this story out but I need to address how the canon of black clover has gone. We're gonna stick to a canon divergence AU, it's the only way to make this continue to work since we have no idea how wild Tabata's ride is gonna be. We'll integrate canon as best we can but it's still gonna be a proper AU.
> 
> Thank you for reading!

The room was quiet, every person having to contemplate what to do now. They had all the pieces of Rebecca’s past, and an idea of how Asta wound up at the orphanage in Hage. Now the captains had to make a decision. Despite her compliance with them, she was still a foreign general. Leaving her in prison was an option, however if word somehow got back that she was imprisoned it could accelerate any plans the Spade Kingdom had for an invasion. Letting her walk free had its own risks, she could potentially give information back even if no one in the room believed she would. It only left one option.

“We’ll have her stay in the custody of a magic knight squad.” Nozel said, the Captains deliberating on the opposite side of the room from the reunited siblings. Most of the captains nodding as Yami sighed.

“Had a feeling you were gonna say something like that,” the Black Bulls captain said. “Lemme guess, my squad because we’re a bunch of maniacs?”

“No,” Nozel said, Yami raising a skeptical eyebrow as he continued. “...After all that, separating them would be the worst thing we could do.” There was a moment of silence as everyone considered the possibility and looked at the Black Bulls captain.

“First you guys make me take some of the Golden Dawn brats, then you make me take in the runt’s sister,” Yami said, pretending he didn't enjoy the chaos in his base. He rubbed the back of his head and looked back at Asta and his sister. “Yeah, I think I can make some extra room.”

“If you’re willing and there are no objections?” Fuegoleon said, looking at each captain to make absolutely certain there were no objections to his rivals idea. Dorothy, gave a snore of confirmation and they all looked to Rill, who was over with the siblings and painting them.

“We’ll take that as him approving of the idea.” Fuegoleon sighed, he was skilled, but his youth led to little slip ups in his maturity.

“Okay hooolllld it!” Rill said, holding his thumb up and looking as Asta and Rebecca had adjusted to fit his painting request. His brush jumped from the palette to the canvas and back again, moving expertly thanks to his heavy focus on painting as both a hobby and his magic attribute. Rebecca was seemingly more than happy to get something to commemorate finally meeting her brother again. Asta however was still dealing with his body being too stiff, he fidgeted more than usual, especially now that it was calmer.

“Do we have to sit like this for long?” He asked, trying to force a cramp out of is shoulder. “I’m getting stiff.” Rill shook his head as he peeked out from behind the canvas.

“No, no, no, no!” he said, holding out his thumb and looking at the two. “Just stay still while I work!” The paint mage feverishly moved his brush as Rebecca looked at her brother, who was still fidgeting. She looked between the captains who seemingly had elected to let Rill continue, and the artist himself before moving and putting a hand on Asta’s shoulder.

“This should help,” She said as a lavender glow came from her hand. Asta looked nervous for half a second before the warmth hit him, then he visible relaxed as the aura wrapped around him. Julius, naturally was beaming at seeing heat magic being used as the rest of the room kept wary looks on her. “It will relax your muscles, so the stiffness should go away.”

“You can do that!?” Julius practically squeaked, the much younger Wizard King having sparkles float around his head. Rebecca slowly nodding as the captains kept a wary gaze on her. 

“However, if it’s used for too long it will make someone fall asleep.” She continued, the smaller Wizard King was watching with bated breath. The magic was undeniably fascinating, even more so that it wasn’t a named spell, but her natural mana control. Thankfully, Rill was still able to paint what he wanted, at least until Asta started to nod off a bit. He let out a quiet yawn, and then gently fell asleep right on Rebecca’s shoulder.

“Asta?” his older sister said, dispersing her magic as he let out a snore. “That… that shouldn’t have happened, at least not that quickly.” The magicless knight was completely asleep, with a content smile on his face as Yami walked over. 

“Well, the kid needed rest.” he said, ignoring Rill’s protests of him ruining his painting and picked Asta up. He somehow managed to stay asleep despite Rebecca’s surprised expression at the captain. Yami walked to the door as Rebecca sat there, watching as her brother was seemingly taken away from her again. Naturally of course, they wouldn’t just let a foreign general loose, regardless of how valid her claim was. But she knew he was safe, and that was the most important part of this mission-

“You coming?” Yami said, pushing open the door and obliterating Rebecca’s train of thought. “Or are you gonna sit there and catch a cold?”

“What?” She said, completely dumbfounded as the Black Bulls captain grinned at her. “But that’s a security breach. You’d be letting a hostile country’s soldier out unsecured on a whim. It’s completely irresponsible!”

“Well then, I guess you can live with seeing him once every couple of months instead of spending time with him.” Yami smirked, Rebecca looking between him and the captains, who all had a hand on their faces, even Dorothy. “And here I thought you’d jump at the opportunity to hang with the shrimp.”

Rebecca sat there for a moment, completely dumbfounded at the man’s logic. But she slowly stood up and after no one offered resistance, slowly started to walk after the Captain. Asta still calmly asleep on Yami’s shoulder, despite how carelessly the man was moving. They moved up the stairs, a few knights looking at the General as she followed the Captain. 

“Why are you doing this?” She asked the imposing man as he stepped outside. “This is a huge risk for someone you don’t even know, let alone someone who could hiding things!” Yami stayed quiet as he quietly pulled a cigarette out.

“Your Ki’s the exact same as the shrimp.” he said, calmly passing Asta to Rebecca and lighting his cigarette. “Stubborn and won’t lie unless you gotta protect something right?”

“I… what?” She responded, baffled by his logic and random terminology. But also stunned at how quickly her character had been nailed down, perhaps he was more perceptive than his attitude led on. She’d have to ask about that when they weren’t in public. “Yes, that is correct.”

“Then we’ll find my ride and get going,” the captain said, looking around and sighing. Who or whatever he was looking for wasn’t around. He took a drag from his cigarette, before shouting. “FINRAL, GET YOUR DUMBASS OVER HERE!”

There was a surprised yelp from somewhere nearby, with a brown haired mage with green highlights quickly running towards the trio. With Yami grabbed his head with a murderous look as he got within arms reach. 

“Who the hell told you you could wander off?” he growled, his mana flowing off around him and managing to send a shiver up Rebecca’s spine. Finral was sweating bullets as the large captain waited for his excuse.

“Well, you see there was this cute girl and well.” He started, Yami letting go of his head as he listened. “We were right by this nice teahouse I know about and-”

“Take us home, idiot,” Yami sighed, cutting Finral off. “And don’t make me wait next time, especially when we have a special guest.” the captain motioning at Rebecca, who was still carrying a sleeping Asta.

“A special guest?” the man said, now noticing the woman. “Wait, why’s she carrying Asta?”

“He needed a nap, now lets go before I break your skull.” Yami said, Finral looking more than a little terrified as he took out his grimoire. 

“Spatial Magic: Fallen Angel Gate.” He said, a translucent silver portal appearing in front of the group. His hand stayed pinched to keep the spell active as he motioned for everyone to walk through it. “One easy trip for you, mademoiselle,” he said, giving Rebecca what most would have interpreted as a flirtatious smile. 

“Thank you,” the woman said, missing any hint of a flirt from the man. She stepped through, even if she knew it was wide enough, she still moved her little brother as if it was a doorway. On the other side she went from the busy, albeit ruined capital, to a mess of a building in the middle of a heavily wooded area. Walls jutting out in structurally unstable angles, what appeared to be trees growing on parts, and the roof was mismatched sets of colours.

It looked right out of a children’s story, which admittedly put Rebecca at ease. If it was like a children's fable, it would be safe despite all forms of structural integrity issues. It also lent itself to the idea that this was some sort of specialist squad, an elite faction that was undoubtedly perfect for her little brother.

And then the front door exploded. A mixture of dust, sparks and charred wood nearly making the group flinch, or at least Rebecca did. Yami and Finral seemed nonplussed, and Asta finally started to wake up.

“Mmm, oh we’re home?” he said groggily, a calm smile on his face as the intense screaming from inside the base made Rebecca raise an eyebrow in worry. He adjusted a bit, his sister letting him stand up and stretch. “Oh wow uh, how long was I out?”

“Approximately twenty one and a half minutes,” Rebecca said, all three of the Black Bulls members looking at her with impressed expressions. “It pays to know how long things take.”

“That’s cool!” Asta said as his drowsiness faded into a huge smile. Rebecca admittedly having to try and fight off a smile at his words.

“Captain,” Finral whispered to yami as the front of the base magically reformed itself. “Who is she anyway? Not that I mind having another cutie around.”

“I ain’t explaining it twice,” the man said, walking towards the door and casually kicking the newly formed door open. “ALL RIGHT, WE’RE BACK YOU SHITHEADS!” 

“Well Sis,” Asta said with a huge smile. “Welcome to where I live!” He ran inside, with Finral walking a little more casually as she followed them. The interior surprised her with how cohesive it seemed. Decently used plush lounge chairs and couches were around the room, across from a surprisingly well stocked bar. Or it would’ve been well stocked had there not been bottles scattered around the room.

Rebecca had to take a moment to take everything in. It was the least organized or professional common area she had ever seen. An older woman was half passed out from drinking and in her underwear for goodness sake. Two others, a short blond knight and one with sunglasses and dual toned hair stopped what appeared to be mid-fight and looked at the doorway. A short woman was stuffing her face with food, as a trio was awkwardly sitting at a table and someone wearing a mask was standing in the doorway at the back of the room.

“Welcome back, Captain!” They all said, with varied levels of enthusiasm. All of them looked at Rebecca, eyebrows raised with varying levels of quizicalness. All except Gauche, who took a moment and blinked once.

“Oh, it’s you.” He said, the group looking at him now with confusion.

“Yes, it is,” Rebecca said with a calm smile. “I see you had no trouble bringing in those troublemakers?” 

“Mmhmm,” the man said, focusing on a small slip of paper in his hand. Rebecca would’ve asked what it was had Yami not interrupted everything, again.

“All right, you idiots,” he said, his voice much calmer now as every Black Bull member stood in front of him. “We have a special mission involving this newbie.”

“Eh?” a few of them said, Asta having a huge smile as they all looked at Rebecca. 

“This is the shrimp’s sister,” he continued, seemingly wanting to get it done as quickly as possible. “We gotta just watch over her for a bit so try not to kill her or something. I’m gonna go take a shit.”

“What was that introduction?” The Bulls thought as the captain walked towards the back of the room. While Rebecca had a very different train of thought.

‘I see,” She thought, watching as Yami quickly exited the room. “He must have thought that my background would cause trouble, and faked an urgent bathroom visit to distract his team. A brilliant tactic to ease me in.”

“God dammit,” Yami thought, sprinting towards where Henry had moved the bathrooms. “I should not have eaten that grilled snake Julius gave me.” 

Back in the main hall however, everyone was slowly realizing what the Captain said. Within a few seconds of each other they all looked between Rebecca and Asta. 

“YOU HAVE A SISTER?” They all shouted, both siblings flinching at the sudden yelling.

“Oooh!” Luck said, the blond mage sparkling with excitement. “I wonder if she’s strong! Are you strong? Pleaaaase tell me you're strong!"

“Seriously,” Finral sighed, looking at Luck with a deadpan. “Luck, I thought you would’ve mellowed out a bit.”

“Not a chance~” the knight said, his mana sensing going just a little wild as he tried to gauge Rebecca’s magic. His own mana sparked visibly around him as it filled the room. He made an excited squeak only to be grabbed by the collar by Magna.

“Come on, you bastard,” He said, giving Luck an annoyed look. “Ya fight me for half an hour and still think yer good enough for a random fight.”

“Seriously?” Vanessa said, Rebecca was still admittedly stunned she was relaxing in her lingerie. “You two hear that she’s Asta’s sister and you still can’t think about anything but fighting each other?”

“You know the answer to that…” Finral said, giving a tired shrug. “Though, finding out Asta has a sister…? That’s a shock.”

“I don’t believe it.” Noelle said bluntly. The princess giving Rebecca a deadpan look. “We already know Diamond knows about Asta’s power.”

“Yes, I am aware of his power.” Rebecca said, getting a surprised look from the Bulls, even Asta. “After all, he most likely inherited one or both of our parents attributes and is an incredibly powerful mage to be ranked as one of the most powerful up and coming knights!” The incognito general took a triumphant pose, her own mana radiating in pride.

She stopped after she realized no one else was sharing her pride. All of them looking almost heartbroken at the words crawling up their throats. 

“Well uh…” Asta started to say, the words he was used to saying now were taking forever to come up. Rebecca looked at him, not making it any easier. “I don’t… well uh…”

“You don’t…?” Rebecca said, her analytic mind piecing together what he was having trouble saying. “Asta…”

“I don’t have any magic.” he said, Rebecca feeling like the wind was just taken out of her sails as she flinched. “We got a couple doctors to confirm it too.”

On the outside, Rebecca seemed to be taking the news surprisingly well. Her stoic demeanor and trained ability to hide her emotions serving her well once more as her mind raced a mile a minute. ‘Was it how he was born? No… No, the doctors found he was healthy after we saved him.’ she thought, not noticing a bead of sweat forming on her brow. ‘Was it something the kidnapper did? It would allow an easy way to hide an infant after all if they didn’t give off a sense of mana. But no one would do that to a newborn either.’

She didn’t notice that the bead of sweat had frozen, or that her mana was seeping out of her and away from any heat sources. ‘But he has a grimoire, what could that mean?’ A bottle broke, snapping Rebecca out of her thought process. The walls of the entire bases common room had a level of frost on them, and a bottle of wine had frozen to the point it cracked.

And that’s when she saw something that hurt a hundred times more than she thought it would. It wasn’t fear in Asta’s eyes, she could understand being scared of a near complete stranger. It was worry, she was worrying him and that was something she had decided never to do. 

“Sis?” he said, cautiously walking towards her and extending his arm out. That worried face making Rebecca feel even worse that she had lost control for the first time in at least a decade. She needed to change it, she needed to be the big sister who wouldn’t make her little brother worry.

She moved like a bolt of lightning, quickly taking Asta’s arm and pulling him into a hug. The Bulls momentarily readied themselves for a fight, but stopped when they saw Rebecca fighting back tears.

“I’m so, so proud of you, Asta.” She said, her voice cracking just a little. “You worked so hard, and I couldn't be prouder of you.” 

The Bulls let out a collective sigh of relief, even if it was for a few seconds they had felt her mana. And it was an almost terrifying level of power, especially since she had no grimoire visible on her person. They knew Rouge would be able to protect them if she decided to fight, but someone who could freeze a building without a grimoire? That would be a nightmare of a battlefield. However, this immediately lead to a new problem.

Luck was absolutely positively one billion percent past his limit for not fighting someone as strong as possible. The berserker smiled, and waited, patiently for the siblings to break their hug. They started to move, the hunter waiting for the right moment to strike.

“So… Rebecca.” Vanessa said, her own Big Sister Instincts giving her a heads up to what Luck was thinking. “If you’re really our little Asta’s sister, then there’s only one way to prove it.” A devilish grin formed on her face as everyone in the room looked at her.

“And that is?” the general asked, her eyebrow raised in curiosity.

“Baby photos, stories, every embarrassing little detail about this adorable little shrimp we could possibly hear~” She expected Rebecca to take the bait, and to force Luck out of combat mode and into prank mode.

No one expected Rebecca’s face to light up like a festival bonfire. Or Asta lighting up just as brightly.

“Wait, I have those!?” he asked, a huge smile on his face and seemingly wiping away the worry he felt a moment ago. “Well I mean, I know I have some from the church, but this is gonna be fun!”

“We have his agreement!” Vanessa shouted, using her thread magic to move everything they could possibly sit on around one of their tables. Rebecca admittedly watched in awe as she did so, the simple threads moving surprisingly precisely despite the fact that she had drank herself to unconsciousness at some point in the day.

“There is one complication,” she said, the Bulls looking disappointed as they were all moving to grab a seat. “While I have the stories committed to memory, the pictures are in my journal. Which is with your captain as of right now.” She knew it would be difficult to get it out of him if he was still in the restroom. But she didn’t expect the looks of sheer terror at the idea of interrupting Yami while he was taking a dump.

“...Do you think he’ll finally fight me if I go ask for it?” Luck said, his smile growing wider at the idea.

“If by fight you mean decapitate…” Gauche said, his good eye giving a deadpan expression. 

“Hey, it’s your funeral kid,” Zora said, his toothy grin barely masking his own worry. “Be my guest.”

“Kay!” the lightning mage said, zipping off before anyone could grab him. They all waited, nervous at what could happen. Rebecca didn’t know the dynamic yet, but Yami must be terrifying if interrupted in his personal time. 

A minute passed, Magna holding up his hand with three fingers outstretched. Then two, then one and then…

“DON’T LEAVE ME OUTTA MESSING WITH THE RUNT!” Yami’s voice echoed through the halls. The man appearing with Luck slung over his shoulder, a visible lump on his head as the Captain vaulted to grab the comfiest chair.

“This is unexpected!!” everyone thought, the grown captain grinning like a schoolboy as he tossed Rebecca’s journal to her. The clasp stayed locked until Rebecca touched it with her finger.

“Let’s see... “ the woman said, holding the book open over the table as dozens of pictures fell out. Some sketches, others photographs, and one full colour drawing.  
“So, where would you like to start?” she asked, confident in her memory. The Bulls stared at the pile for a moment before Noelle hesitantly picked up a picture. She half expected it to be a picture of baby Asta getting up to some mischief. Her blush showed she was mistaken as she placed it on the table for everyone to see.

Asta was in the lap of a surprisingly well rested looking woman for a newborn mother. The infant looked peaceful as he rested, his sister’s hand gently wrapped around his tiny finger. Everyone stared, the image was so peaceful despite the fading.

“That was the first day home, a Wednesday at five seventeen in the evening.” Rebecca said, everyone except Asta staring at her as she flipped through her journal. “It was one of the warmest days that month, so it was the perfect time to get you home.”

“Mom…” Asta said, looking at the smiling woman in the photo. “Wow, I was really tiny compared to her!” 

“You were,” Rebecca nodded, looking between him and the photo. “And with the complications that happened, we were still incredibly worried even when we brought you home.”

“Complications?” Noelle said, her voice full of worry that was now on everyone but Yami’s face. 

“We, uh… can talk about that later!” Asta said, giving obviously fake smile as he picked up another photo. “Besides look at this! I’m in a baby backpack thing!” The attempt to distract his friends didn’t work, they were all looking at him and Rebecca with worried looks.

“Something went wrong during childbirth,” Rebecca said, managing to keep her voice level despite visibly fighting back her emotions. “However, due to nothing short of a miracle, he’s grown well and I couldn’t be happier about it.”

“Seriously?” Zora sighed, his eyes narrowing at the two siblings. The man was intuitive to a dangerously smart level. He may have had a question, but he could tell now was not the time for it. “Well, good for us you lived, you little shrimp.” Everyone gave a murmur of agreement, getting a small smile out of Rebecca. As well as silently agreeing to ask about certain things later.

“I agree, now then, what pictures would you like to know about?” She said, the group sifting through the pile again. A few of them laughing or cooing over some of them until Magna burst out laughing hard enough to fall off the couch.

“N-No way!” the yankee wheezed, holding the photo up for everyone to see what appeared to be the parents flinching away from a stream of liquid coming from the surface. They could also see a small set of legs and arms. “Y-You pissed on your dad!?” 

Everyone started laughing at that, especially Asta, as Rebecca flipped to another page in her journal.

“I will not divulge too much about the date and time…” she started, finding the page she was looking for. “But that was the time our father tried changing him, and well… you can see the result.”

The base howled at the few details they were given, Asta almost sliding off his spot as he doubled over in laughter. “I-I knew. I knew I did that with the old man! But, this is too funny!”

“Father described it as a ‘vicious torrent’ after you were changed.” Rebecca followed up, causing everyone to almost fall off their chairs. She waited a moment for people to collect themselves before continuing. “Admittedly, he had thought you had his water magic due to this.”

“He’s so tiny~” Vanessa said, looking at another picture of baby Asta sleeping. “He’s the cutest thing ever!”

The mood of the room was very positive, at least until Vanessa uttered those words. Then there was a chill, a sudden one. Not from Rebecca, but from Gauche. 

“The… cutest?” he uttered, his face a mix of anger and hurt at Vanessa’s words. Everyone else however gave him a deadpan expression as if to tell him, ‘Not the time.’ He ignored that however, and reached into his grimoire holder. Rebecca readied herself for a fight, and was relieved when gauche did not pull out his grimoire, but a small journal.

“The only thing that deserves that title is my precious Marie!” He shouted, flipping open the journal to preserved pictures of a young girl with a lighter shade of brown hair than him. He took out what appeared to be a baby photo, Rebecca noting the singed edges of the photograph as he carefully placed it on the table.

“You see! As a baby she was the cutest thing imaginable!” He shouted, shooting daggers from his good eye at Rebecca. Admittedly, baby Marie was adorable, almost enough to make Rebecca cooed softly at the image of the sleeping child. However she sifted through the pile of photos and grinned.

“Were I without my evidence, I may have conceded to you.” she said as she took another photo out of the pile and placed it close to Gauche’s. It was a picture of baby Asta napping with a much younger Rebecca. Both of them being tucked in by their parents as they slept. “However, as you can see here, Asta was the cutest baby ever.”

“No, Marie was!” Gauche shouted, everyone looking at him knowing how quick he would go to a fight over his little sister. Both older siblings stood up, their faces deadly serious.

“Then shall we agree on one thing?” Rebecca said, her experience dealing with stubborn people giving her an idea. “Marie was the cutest baby girl, Asta was the cutest baby boy.” Gauche glared at her, before taking a breath and carefully picked up the picture of his sister.

“Fine,” he said, happy that she at least partially agreed with him. Rebecca was content she had stopped an argument as well, and happily continued to tell stories about Asta. 

“And he would always grab anything he could,” She laughed, being asked about one photo where the infant had managed to get a surprisingly solid grip on a potato skin. “It would take his favourite toy to make him let go of anything he had in his hands.”

“Was my favourite toy Mr. Fluffles?” Asta asked, knowing that was what Rebecca had said he couldn’t sleep without in the interrogation room. 

“Mr. Fluffles!?” the Bulls thought, trying to figure out what that toy must’ve been. At least, everyone but Yami who just snickered at the plush owls name.

“Yes,” She nodded, finding another picture of Asta asleep with a plush owl in his small crib. “You always did have an affinity for birds, it was the first toy you showed any interest in.”

Rebecca watched out of the corner of her eye as the photo was passed around, and as it got to Noelle she turned completely red and quietly slid it to the older sister. She refused to look in their direction before Vanessa gave her an affectionate ribbing. Neither Asta or Rebecca seemed to get why, and went back to looking at the photos. This went on for a long time, until the sun had started to dip below the tree line.

Rebecca, was surprisingly tired. She was used to long days, long emotional days. But it had been years since she could remember a day that had been filled with this much enjoyment. She had put away the photos, each one taking up its rightful place in her journal. Parts of the group had split off to their own area in the main room. Around Rebecca was Asta and Noelle, with Magna eyeing them from across the room. Yami had dragged Luck somewhere, promising a fight for him.

Rebecca had caught on to Magna eyeing her, he had every right to be suspicious after all. She was ready for him to accost her, she got the feeling that he respected his captain enough to not risk anything but still.

“Auuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh I can’t take it anymore!” the yankee shouted, standing up from his chair and pointing at Rebecca. “You may have the captains permission to stay here but i gotta find out one thing!”

“And that is?” Rebecca said, keeping her tone as level as possible, one wrong word could escalate things beyond control. “If I have the captains permission, I fail to see a problem?”  
“Permission ain’t the problem!” Magna shouted, his mana surging around him as he got fired up. “If yer gonna be around here, you gotta prove you can hold yer own!”

“I assure you, I can certainly hold my own.” Rebecca said, silently thankful that this didn’t seem like a huge issue. “However, if you are worried, I can prove your worries are dealt with.”

“Damn right you’re gonna prove it,” the yankee grinned. “Cause I’m about to put you through initiation!”


	8. Around the Base

Before Rebecca knew it, both her and a couch were dragged outside of the base. Magna stood across from her in the large clearing, his grimoire at the ready and a wicked grin on his face.

“I couldn’t do this with Luck around,” he yelled, Rebecca waiting to hear what she would have to do for this initiation. “But now... I don’t care how ya do it! But just survive and you pass!” 

“All right then,” Rebecca said, watching his skull patterned grimoire glow red. She readied herself, letting her mana fill a relatively safe area to act as a defensive option. “I am ready.”

“Here we goooooooooooooooooo!” Magna shouted, flicking open his grimoire and pulling out a flaming baseball bat. Rebecca caught his mouth quickly being shut to keep himself from saying something.

‘He’s keeping his spells a secret?’ She thought, watching him summon a group of fireballs and juggle them in his free hand. 

“You’re Asta’s sister, right? So I can’t go underestimating you!” the yankee shouted, throwing fireballs up into the air and hitting one after another at Rebecca. Some went wide, Rebecca barely needing to use her magic to dodge them while other had dangerous precision. Still, she managed to dodge the first volley, and kept her mana zone ready for everything.

And then she felt something appear from the three other sides of her. Her heat magic felt the sudden change in temperature before the spells actually appeared. She jumped over the fireball behind her, and watched as they all impacted, leading to a frankly overkill level of explosion for an initiation.

‘They teleport?’ She thought, barely being given time to think as more fireballs came her way. Some disappeared, some didn’t, she created a burst of heat to push her back towards the ground, just as a fireball teleported to where she was a moment ago.

“Not bad!” Magna grinned, readying another volley as Rebecca kept dodging. “Now for the final round!” The general managed to dodge as the final wave of fireballs came in, or well, went up and above her.

‘He’s planning on having them drop on me?’ she thought, noticing a few of them disappearing. She readied herself to dodge, still aware of the quickly incoming barrage above her. And the fireballs reappeared, this time all around her. She was surrounded, a jump over would make her reaction to the incoming attack harder to dodge, but if she didn't dodge, any defense she could put up without her grimoire might not stand up to the sheer firepower.

Then one of the fireballs above her exploded, creating a smokescreen to mask the others. She had to trust her instincts and act. The heat from the fire magic combined with the cool evening breeze gave her only one option with how her magic worked. She ‘grabbed’ the moisture in the air with her magic and sent a wave of frozen water up to meet the fireballs. No one bothered to watch the ice and fire collide, and instead watched as Rebecca used the heat from above to force an air current to form and force the fireballs into the ground.

The Bulls watched as Rebecca was seemingly engulfed in flame and dirt as the barrage exploded around her. Magna, despite his cool demeanor, had a panicked look on his face.

“Shit. Shit, shit, shit!” he said, sprinting at the scorched smoking area Rebecca should be in. “Hey! You alive!?”

“That I am,” Rebecca said calmly, standing in the one spot none of the fire managed to touch with a thin layer of ice on her skin. “I’m assuming I passed?”

“And then some!” Magna shouted, a few beads of sweat forming on his brow. “How the hell’d you avoid all that? I threw pretty much everything at ya!”

“It was because of my magic.” Rebecca said with a smile, the rest of the Bulls now cheering at her passing. “My heat magic let me feel where your attacks would come from before they showed up visibly. Had I been born with a different affinity, you may have beaten me with your first volley.”

“Hot damn!” Magna cheered, putting a friendly hand on Rebecca’s shoulder. “You almost passed that as awesome as Asta did! Welcome aboard!”

“Oh?” Rebecca said, Magna realized that she became immediately more animated from her stoic attitude at the mention of her brother. “And how did he pass? I still don’t quite grasp his power, was it magic that he used despite what he said earlier? No, no that would be contradictory and-”

“I have Anti-Magic!” Asta said, the group running up to the pair. Rebecca looked at him like what he just said was in a foreign language. “I kinda just hit the fireball back at Magna and it blew up in his face.”

Rebecca’s eyes had sparkles around them as she looked between Asta and Magna. Her mind was racing faster than Finral to a single ladies night as she quickly pieced together as much as she could with her limited information. 

‘If he has anti magic then that explains his lack of magic,’ she thought, pulling Asta into another hug. ‘His attribute can’t exist with magic, so however he got it, that’s why I can’t sense his mana. It makes perfect sense!’

‘Yup that’s his sister all right’ every one of the black bulls thought as they saw Rebecca have the same excited expression as Asta. Complete with the little sparkles in her eyes and the wide eyed, almost innocent excitement as her brother pulled out one of his swords.

‘It’s rusted?’ Rebecca thought, watching carefully as Asta stabbed what seemed to be an impossibly large sword into the ground. He then took out two more weapons, one with an ornate crossguard, and another that looked to be more of an executioner's sword. She idly thought about her training, and how she both received and gave out instructions on how to use a non-magic weapon if she was up against someone who had a superior magic advantage. Maybe she should help sharpen them, improve his effectiveness and letha-

“Wanna know what they do!?” Asta said excitedly, snapping Rebecca out of what she called ‘Training mode.’ The Bulls looked on, Asta launching into an explanation as his sister listened intently. 

“Well, she seems to be getting along well,” Vanessa said happily. Watching as both of the siblings shone like their surname would suggest. She’d be lying if she wasn’t a little bit nervous about a stranger showing up and claiming to be the big sister of someone she viewed as a little brother. “He needs something like this after everything that happened.”

“Absolutely,” Finral said, adjusting his robe a bit as he seemed to start battling with something internally. “Though… we’ll still need to watch out for him. Though I won't complain if we’re having another lovely lady around.”

“Hmph,” Noelle muttered, giving a skeptical look at Rebecca. “You say that but… isn’t it weird that she’s only showing up now?” The Bulls silently agreed, while Asta and Yami knew the truth, Rebecca seemed to be keeping something hidden. 

“Well, it is hard to find him without magic,” Vanessa mused, surprising everyone as she put a cork in her wine bottle. “But he was getting into newspapers, so that’d mean she would have to be foreign…”

“Oooh that means foreign noms!” Charmy cheered, her mind being filled with images of foreign delicacies she could devour by the cart load given the chance. 

“Or it means she’s trickin’ him,” Magna said bluntly, the yankee mage sighing and brushing off some dirt from his pants. “Doubt it though, if she was she prolly wouldn’t come back here with him.”

“M-m-m-m-m-maybe sh-sh-she’s a-a-a-a princess?” Grey said, their voice stammering nearly incoherently as the reunited siblings started sparring. Rebecca using her magic to seemingly teleport with Asta managing to pinpoint where she was with relative ease.

“A-A-A PRINCE?” Noelle blurted out, quickly covering her mouth as everyone but the siblings gave her a look. The image of Asta, dressed to the nines and sitting regally, a prince that she could teach about the ins and outs of royalty. A meeting in the moonlight as their lips met and- “Th-That’s ridiculous!”

“We’ll just have to figure things out. After all, Asta’s all our best friend,” Gordon said, perfectly audible and getting surprised looks from everyone that he managed to be heard. Everyone slowly nodded, and looked at where the two siblings were just a moment before. Asta was running with his sister towards the inside of the base. The rest of the Bulls followed as the large doors swung open.

“I can’t show you the girls side of the base, but I can show you everything else!” Asta shouted, his sister following as he ran down a hall. His sister close behind as the pair went into the basement first, the sound of hungry growls confusing her from the cheery tone she thought the base had. “Besides, I gotta feed these guys anyway!”

“Feed them?” Rebecca said, looking at the heavy metal cage that was barely illuminated. Her mind jumped to something horrible, the idea of these knights keeping prisoners for who knows what jumped to mind. And then she heard the hungry whines as Asta took out what appeared to be a chunk of meat the size of his torso.

“Yeah!” Asta said, three gargantuan animals approaching the edge of the cage. One looked close to a fox, another was closer to a gorilla and the third was some type of weird horned bear. “They only really like the captain, so I can't feed them on my own.” He turned, expecting to see his sister nervous at the size of the beasts. Instead the door was open and she was happily scritching underneath each one of their chins.

“Who’s a good baby? You are!” she said, one of their legs shaking happily in the air as she managed to hit that good pet spot. Asta watched, the huge chunk of meat on a bone still in his hand as he carefully walked into the cage. “Asta, they’re ADORABLE!”

Remembering the daily bites he got from them whenever he tried to feed them, he had a problem seeing them as adorable. But with how they were all letting Rebecca pet them, he kinda started to see it. 

“Yeah! They really are,” he said, smiling as he was finally able to feed them without nearly being swallowed alongside the food. “Glad they’re behaving!”

“As if big sweeties like this could misbehave~” Rebecca said, the beasts now happily eating the food as they walked out of the cage. Both siblings laughed as two of the Bulls watched from the shadows of the stairway.

“Amazing…” Finral muttered, Vanessa giving him a look and catching the blush on his face. 

“If you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking, would you really want to have Asta as an in law?” The witch teased, Finral standing up straight at her words. The first impression they both had of her was incredibly stoic. But the light in her as she laughed was impossible to ignore. “Though, she’s almost like a different person from when she walked in.”

Finral couldn’t really say anything, Vanessa’s teasing had put thoughts in his mind. Thoughts that he was desperately trying to push away thanks to a conversation with his brother.

“I'm DEFINITELY not thinking about that stuff!” Finral blatantly lied, Vanessa giving him a playful look as they snuck away. The two siblings miraculously didn’t notice either of them, as far as they knew at least, and made their way to a different part of the base.

“This is the library!” Asta said, Noelle and Gordon both sitting at one of the tables surrounded by books. “I don’t really get what's in a lot of these but there’s a ton of awesome books!”

“I had the same issue growing up,” Rebecca said, the two Bulls spying on them doing their best to listen. “It was hard to focus on the books, but I managed to push through.”

“So the words in books didn't make sense either?” Asta asked, Noelle, Gordon and Rebecca catching a look of excitement on Asta’s face. “Did you fall asleep too? Did you?” Noelle had to hide her face again, the blush on her cheeks at Asta’s eagerness was too obvious. Gordon on the other hand leaned in, thoughts of helping Asta catch up on troubled schooling seeming like the perfect plan to get closer as friends.

“Exactly,” Rebecca nodded, something hitting the pit of her stomach at how excited Asta looked. An image she had only dreamt about momentarily replaced the real thing, with him asking to learn from his big sister. “I have you to thank for my success, to be frank.”

“Huh? How?” her brother said, his excitement giving way to confusion. Noelle and Gordon slowly slid to the end of the table, their own curiosity matching that of their friends. “You only uh, well you know, found me recently?”

“Finding you was what pushed me forward,” she said with a smile, as she put a hand on her brother’s head and ruffled his hair. “Just for a chance to see you.” The room was quiet as Asta fixed his hair after the ruffling, before giving his sister the largest grin imaginable. “And to the big sister you deserved.”

“That’s just one more thing we have in common then!” he said, pulling her by the arm towards the hallway. “You’re already a good big sister! I think!” 

He didn’t see the huge grin on his sister’s face as they ran out, Noelle and Gordon did, and got up from the table.

“Was… she crying?” Noelle said, Gordon nodding quietly as they moved to follow the two. “And what do you think Asta meant by ‘You know’?” Gordon mumbled something Noelle was too focused to hear, the idea of Asta actually being some form of nobility was causing her head to turn red. 

She let out a flustered yell, everyone in the base wondering what could’ve made Noelle make such a noise. Meanwhile, Asta showed his sister the rest of the parts of the base he was allowed too. 

“The girls' side is over there!” he said, Rebecca now painfully aware of the entire squad trying to stealthily follow the pair. She looked down the hallway to see visible tripwires, spears and what appeared to be a literal guillotine. “Guys aren’t allowed there cause someone might do something, whatever that something is.”

“I wouldn’t have the foggiest idea,” Rebecca said, looking just as confused as her brother. She hadn’t seen that many tripwires and death traps since her days in the female dorms back in the Spade Kingdom. Though she did recall someone being unfortunate enough to be caught, and a good few inches shorter, by one.

‘They can’t both be that dense,’ Finral thought as the duo walked around to the balcony overlooking the main hall. The rest of the Bulls quietly followed them as Asta led his sister over to the guys side of the base.

“I can’t wait to show you my room!” Asta said, his sister keeping an equal pace to him as they approached the tiny room. “I wonder if Nero’s in there? She’s usually there about now.”

“Nero?” she said, confused at the idea of there being a girl waiting for him in his room. The Bulls getting treated to the single most baffled expression possible as Rebecca tried to process that idea. ‘A girl? He has a girl in his room? My sweet baby brother has a girl?’

Vanessa had to stay behind because her stomach was cramping from laughter as the door opened. The rest of the bulls moved up and heard the more confused noises as Rebecca saw the tired looking swallow sitting on Asta’s windowsill.

“Ah, she’s sleeping already!” Asta said, the bird shifting slightly and opening one eye to look at the two intruders on her slumber. “Or was. Sorry Nero!”

“Knock next time,” the bird yawned as Rebecca’s face had the most obvious confused expression as Nero started flying for the door. “Your room’s the only one with good pillows anyways.”

“Didn’t the captain give you your own room?” the boy asked as Rebecca’s eyes followed Nero as she stayed in place in the hallway. 

“I’m too used to yours, I suppose.” the bird said, before flying off down the hall.

“Wha-?” Rebecca got out as Asta waved goodbye to his friend.

“Nero’s a little quiet, but you can talk to her later!” he said, before walking into the center of the small room with a ragged looking bed and partially broken window. “But this is my room! Isn’t it awesome?!”

Rebecca’s mind jumped back home, the small room they had ready for the bundle of joy that was taken too soon. And now this room, this room that was just about the same size. It was still so obviously a room for newer recruits, with one dresser, a single small table that had worn legs and the patchwork blanket on the bed.

“It’s lovely, Asta,” she said, pulling her brother into a hug. “But that window should be fixed. No one can afford for you to get sick.”

“I can fix it in the morning!” Asta beamed, the sounds of what he could only guess was a very frustrated Yami and disappointed Luck returning. “Oh! The captain can probably have Miss Vanessa or Noelle show you a room you can use!”

“Thank you,” she said, giving him a smile. “I wonder if I’ll have a room as good as yours?”

“Probably!” her brother beamed, walking out to see the entire Bulls ensemble waiting in the hallway. “Oh! Hey guys! Guess you overheard huh?”

“Of course,” Vanessa said, having recovered from her laugh cramps. “You need someone to show Rebecca to a room, right?”

“That would be very much appreciated,” the undercover general said, giving the witch a slight bow. “It’s been a very long day, would it be alright if we did that now?”

“Of course!” the witch said,motioning for the group to split as the two older women walked off, the rest of the bulls watching as they did, before relaxing and wandering off to their own rooms after a minute.

Rebecca and Vanessa both reached an empty room with barely a word. The witch waved goodnight to Noelle and Grey before opening the door.

“So,” she said, walking in and sitting at a small table. “I think it’s safe to say you’re hiding something for a good reason, aren’t you?” A cat made of red thread formed next to her, before curling up and sleeping in the center of the table.

Rebecca gave her a cold expression, before taking the other chair and sitting down across from the witch. “What gave it away?”

“Asta,” Vanessa said with a serious look. “You both were hesitant to talk about certain things. Meaning something’s important enough for him to hide it from us.”

“Yes,” Rebecca nodded. “I swore to keep it a secret under the order of your Wizard King.” Both women looked at each other, the cat perking up and sitting, looking directly at Rebecca.

“If it’s that big of a secret, I won’t pry.” she said, Rouge moving back towards her master. “But, if I find out you’ve lied to him, there wi-”

“I will never lie to him!” Rebecca said, her voice sharp as Vanessa felt the temperature drop. “I’m his sister, and he will live in this kingdom. I will not take away what life he has here, I just want to be a part of it.”

“You didn’t let me finish,” Vanessa sighed, Rouge relaxing just a bit as she stood up. “If you are lying, there will be a price to pay. And that’s dealing with his broken heart.” Rebecca blinked in response, the witch giving her a gentle smile.

“You’ve been around him a day, and you’re already a big part of his world.” the witch continued. “Even with the family he has in everyone here, and that little church he grew up in. Someone who can tell him about the past he never knew he wanted. How do you think he’d feel if you were lying and he found out?”

Rebecca didn’t answer, Vanessa walked towards the door before turning once more. “You’re already one of us, just because you mean a lot to him already. And that means you have to deal with me as a big sister for both of you. So get some rest, he’s always up at dawn.”

“...Good night, Vanessa, Thank you,” Rebecca said just before the door closed.

“Good night, Rebecca,” the older woman said, giving her a smile before closing the door with a soft click. Leaving the general alone with the knowledge that she was welcome in this place, and not only that, but she was already considered part of the group.

For the first time in sixteen long years, she had a peaceful sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep this fic is still alive! Just had a large stint of writers block! we're still gonna ride this out as long as we have ideas and have fun while doing it!
> 
> follow my twitter for update son any stories i'm writing! https://twitter.com/MagicLotti3


	9. Scars

Rebecca woke up, her eyelids forced open by the energetic yelling of her brother. She tried to sit up, the bed was the softest thing she had slept on in what felt like years. The blanket almost seemed like it was asking her to stay under the covers.

“Just… five more minutes…” she muttered, the sound of Asta running echoing through the base making her crack a tired smile. “Then… we can play all day…” her eyes opened, the unfamiliar ceiling greeting her. She blinked a few times before realizing where she was.

As much as she craved it, this wasn’t her childhood home. It was the building her brother called home, and he was doing his chores, not being an excited baby that wanted to play.

This reality should’ve hurt, but the sound that Asta was undeniably alive and healthy made her eyes slowly drift back together. It was comforting that he had so much energy, even if it was making it hard for her to sleep for the extra minutes she wanted.

“Does he HAVE to start so early?” Noelle’s tired voice yawned from beyond the door, seemingly unaware that Rebecca could hear her. “You’d think a possible prince could be a little quieter…”

‘Prince?’ the older sister thought, her body protested against getting up but she managed to do it anyway. ‘We’re as common as common can be?’ She moved closer to the door, the smell of something delicious giving her the energy to pull on a pair of pants over her undergarments and one of her lighter shirts she had packed. 

All white, like a cold winter's day after a snowstorm. Lured to the door by what smelled like freshly cooked meat, and the heavenly aroma of the beans she craved. Ground up and expertly infused into a drink that was to Rebecca what water would be to someone dying of dehydration. The door opened, the general barely acknowledging Noelle’s surprised yelp as she practically slid towards the smell of breakfast.

The Bulls expected someone as animated as the Rebecca they met in the common room, some of them still in casual or sleepwear. Instead when she turned the corner, Grey screamed in fright like she had seen a wraith and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The sound of a mirror broke as she walked past Gauche, the man hiding an unnerved shiver as she slowly pulled out a chair that had been laid out for her.

She barely even registered the sheep running around beyond slowly counting them. “One coffee… two coffees… three...”

“Charmy can you send coffee to her? I think she’s dying,” Finral said, the general giving him a very sleepy thumbs up in thanks.

“Need… energy.” she said as a large mug was placed in front of her, alongside a bowl of sugar and pitcher of cream. Her right arm took the cream, the left grabbed the small bowl of sugar and lifted them up above the mug.

And then she just poured them both in their entirety. Everyone stared, even Nero who was mid flight somehow stopped, as if suspended from a string. Yami put down his newspaper to stare as Rebecca stirred the now dangerously sweet substance together.

“Elixir made~” she said sleepily, Vanessa covering her mouth in disgust at how sweet something like that would taste as she began to sip the drink. No one was able to say anything, not even Charmy, as they watched Rebecca slowly go from a walking horror story to a woman who looked like she was alive.

“Much better,” she said, a sheep chef tentatively bringing her a plate with hashbrowns and eggs. “Thank you for the drink~!”

‘Does their entire family have weird ass eating habits?’ the base thought, remembering how Asta could stomach the tatoes his village was “famous” for. And considering how Rebecca wolfed down the food, their suspicion was confirmed.

“Aaaa~” she said, sitting contentedly as she poured another mug of coffee, the base still looking at her in surprise as she poured another mug and began stirring. “I feel so much better now~”

“Well …” Vanessa said as the sheep chefs made their rounds with more food for everyone. “You should be sure to eat your fill, Charmy can cook as much as you want.” Rebecca nodded as more food started piling up in front of everyone, now that they had mentally moved past the sugar coma inducing coffee.

“Of course, thank you for the meal,” she said, taking a few bites before realizing that the hall was quiet. Despite her brother's enthusiastic shouting earlier, he was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Asta?”

As if on cue, the front door opened, Asta walking in carrying an empty laundry basket and covered in sweat. Rebecca caught Noelle’s face turning red as everyone realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt. “Laundry’s out to dry and my morning workout’s done! Time for grub!”

Even if neither of them had noticed yet, the Bulls realized they were on track to a potential disaster. Throughout the time they had known him, Asta had been burnt, stabbed, impaled, cursed, and various other horrible injuries. Thanks to rest and more than a few visits from healing mages a lot of his injuries had healed completely, aside from scars on his arms and a nasty scar on his stomach.

“Gotta go take a shit,” Yami muttered as he wandered out of what would most likely be the hazard zone in a few minutes. The rest of the Bulls realized the same thing the Captain did, despite how friendly she seemed something was setting off a fight or flight sense for the base.

Vanessa tried to think of something to force Rebecca to look away, they had less than a few seconds before the woman would notice the scar from Asta’s near death impalement. Luck caught on first, a fiendish grin covering his face as he looked at Magna, who quickly dove to try and protect his breakfast.

“Oh no you don’t you lightning bastard!” Magna said, the protection of his bacon and eggs was no use as Luck zipped past him and grabbed the plate, fleeing into the depths of the base. Rebecca caught a puff as smoke as both Grey and Gauche disappeared, a throw pillow in place of the transformation mage. 

Gauche had simply vacated the premises. The now former general felt magic cover Zora, the ex vigilante trying to play things calm as Charmy surrounded herself in a pile of food.

Noelle was too slow to notice however, Vanessa did her best to reach for her grimoire but then the temperature dropped. 

Rebecca was staring directly as the half a foot wide scar on Asta’s stomach, by some miracle of obliviousness he hadn't noticed yet. But Vanessa quickly spotted a layer of frost forming on the windows despite the mid morning summer weather. 

‘Don’t turn around,’ Vanessa thought, her throat too dry all of a sudden to speak as the worst happened, Asta turned around to grab something and his sister saw the smaller scar on his back.

Noelle had caught on at this point, and was stuck trying to decide if she should reach for her wand or not before the frost receded. Everyone who had not fled due to the unpredictable nature of what could happen with someone directly related to Asta now watched in terror as Rebecca gave the calmest smile imaginable.

“Asta,” she said, her voice eerily level. Like she was a cat about to pounce on whichever unfortunate bird was in her way. “Why do you have scars that look like you were impaled?”

‘Don’t say which time, Asta,’ Noelle thought, remembering their first mission and how beat up he wound up from that. ‘And don’t mention the dunge-’

“Oh! uh... Let's see which one was this one?” the magic-less knight muttered, looking down at his chest and moving his hand over the scar. Everyone in the room flinched as any drinks left out instantly froze at his words. “Oh yeah! This was from the first dungeon we explored!”

“I’m sorry?” Rebecca said, her head now tilted to the side a bit as Vanessa disappeared into the rafters. “Did, did you say which one?”

“Yeah!” Asta said, his expression dead serious. “It would’ve been way worse if it weren't for everyone here though. They’ve been taking really good care of me!”

“Your majesty,” Rebecca said, her dangerous grin now pointed at the youngest Silva princess. “Is it true that you have been looking after my brother?”

“Y-yes, well,” Noelle said, trying to pick her words very carefully. “A-after all I'm royalty! And i-i-it’s only natural that I would look after him myself!”

“Then will you do me the courtesy of explaining how my brother was nearly impaled? Seemingly multiple times?” She continued, though her smile seemed more genuine now. 

“I was reckless, uhh… a lot,” Asta admitted, Noelle remembering how he had nearly died protecting her in that dungeon.

“Reckless…?” she said quietly, Rebecca opting to stay quiet for a moment as the princess stood up. “You only got that hurt because you ran in front of Mimosa and myself!”

“Well yeah,” the knight shrugged. “You nearly got killed too so what was I supposed to do? Not protect you?”

“You should’ve been more careful so you didn’t almost die!” the princess shouted back, both of them stopping as the room filled with warmth. 

“So, as I understand it,” the former general said, everyone still in the room now looking at her as she stood up and in a quick motion pulled both of them into a hug. “You both got hurt saving each other? And a third party was responsible for healing you in the moment?” They both nodded, extremely surprised at how warm the hug was.

“I… had Mimosa stop healing me to heal Asta,” Noelle admitted, her hand resting on her chest. “There’s still a small scar.”

“At least we got out!” Asta laughed, Rebecca looking as the princess blushed and started to put two and two together. “But then I was out for like a week.”

“I’m sorry what?” the older sister said, the warmth vanishing as her expression was one that could strike terror into anything. “Out? As in. Unconscious? For a WEEK?”

“I! I did my best to take care of him!” Noelle stammered, the generals' magic making their breath become visible. “If I was awake, I was learning first aid to help!”  
“I see.” Rebecca said, her voice still cold despite Asta trying his best to get out of the hellishly cold grip. “Then who took care of him while you were asleep?”

“I did!” Gordon said, still in the room and giving a smile that to anyone who didn’t know him would seem terrifying. Thought Noelle was still weirded out by the poison mage being audible, even if just barely. “After all, friends have to look after one another.”

“Excellent, then,” the general said, the room slowly warming up as she gave Gordon a smile. Even though everyone could still see their breath.

“Uhhh sis? Can you let go my arm actually hurts!” Asta said, Rebecca letting go instantly and realizing her magic had been cold enough to leave a visible flush on his skin. 

“Asta I-” she said, looking at her hand like it was some sort of horrible monster. He gave her a smile in response. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay!” her brother said, filling the room with his smile despite the minor accident. “Are you okay Noelle?” 

“I’m fine,” the princess sighed, very thankful Rebecca’s hand had only been on her sleeve. She could still feel the tension in the air as the older sister of her rush looked over her little brother a bit more. She eyed Rebecca, still staring at her hand as a few thoughts went through her head. ‘Does she have the same control issue as me?’

“My apologies,” Rebecca swallowed, trying to regain focus as her magic was more than a little obviously unstable. “While we are on this… unpleasant topic. Are there any more severe injuries I should know about? And perhaps thank whoever used healing magic on you?”

Things moved in slow motion as Asta spoke, Noelle and Gordon both diving to try and keep him quiet just a moment too late as the words left his mouth.

Needless to say when Magna and Luck returned from their fighting, the fire mage had a lot of defrosting to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im back! 
> 
> Sorry i took so long to write but life got in the way a bit! 
> 
> i have started up a writing twitter in which i post things! nsfw and sfw. i recommend following me here if you are 18+: https://twitter.com/WritingLair  
and if you're a minor: https://twitter.com/MagicLotti3
> 
> im always up for answering questions!


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